As the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship proceeds, the drivers find themselves in different parts of the globe. While in Australia for the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, the Stake F1 Team drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were invited to a Kick.com drifting session.
This was an exciting event to watch because of these excellent F1 drivers. At the same time, we all wanted to see how they’d do, given that F1 doesn’t allow drifting. As expected, they completed the Kick drifting challenges exceptionally well.
Let’s take a look at how the Kick.com drift challenge went. While at it, you’ll learn more about car drifting and the rules surrounding it at F1. You’ll also find out more about Kick.com, the Stake F1 Team, and its selected drivers for the 2024 FIA F1 World Championship.
What Drifting Is All About
Drifting is a growing motorsport subdiscipline. It’s a motorsport-turned technique that’s all about driving your car sideways while having complete control of the vehicle. You may have seen it in motorsports, such as rally and speedway racing.
When a car drifts, the driver oversteers the vehicle to cause it to go sideways. The rear wheels’ loss of traction makes sliding sideways possible. You do all this while your car is at a fast speed.
While in motion, the car loses speed and acceleration, so you must remain in complete control of it. This technique is hazardous and difficult to practice, making it dangerous even for skilled motorsport drivers.
F1 Car Drifting Rules
Drifting in F1 car races is against the rules. This is mainly because of this technique’s element of car brakes’ loss of control. F1 drivers are required to maintain complete control of the car at all times. This means that they can’t practice techniques that compromise car control. Doing this can result in a penalty or disqualification.
As mentioned before, car drifting is a dangerous technique. It’s even more hazardous in F1 cars because they’re designed to be super fast and efficient. Hence, drivers must have a good grip and keep the vehicle stable while racing. If not, we’d see many more tire damage, accidents, and injuries in F1 races.
How Difficult Is Drifting a Formula 1 Car?
Although it’s possible to drift an F1 racing car, the following make it difficult:
- The design consists of low weight, high downforce levels, and advanced aerodynamics, which make the car less likely to lose traction or slide.
- Power and speed: They have powerful engines with over 1,000 horsepower, and their speed can reach over 300 km/h. The high power and speed make it hard to drift while having full control of the car.
- F1 tracks: the layout and design of an F1 circuit include high-speed straights and tight corners, which better accommodate a fast-flowing car than a drifting one.
The Kick.com Drifting Event
While in Australia for the F1 World Championship, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were invited to a car drifting session by Kick.com. This is part of the Stake F1 team’s rebranding and name-changing campaign.
Of course, they were given drift cars that were more appropriate for the challenge than F1 racing cars. They also practiced the technique of drifting track with a layout and design suitable for a car going sideways. Kick.com captured and shared the exciting moments of this event on their YouTube channel.
Although these are experienced drivers who know how to control a speeding car fully, they were first shown how the drifting motorsport works before taking the wheel. Also, while doing the drift challenges, the instructor was inside the car to assist.
Challenge 1: Donuts
The donut challenge involves driving sideways while making a circle. The trick is to avoid entering the smaller donut circle while keeping the car inside the giant circle. As per the instructor, the Stake F1 Team drivers did exceptionally well.
With swift control of the steering wheel, they could let the back wheels loose while getting a full grip over the front ones. At the same time, they kept out of the small circle and stayed inside the bigger one.
Challenge 2: Parking
This is a two-slide challenge in which the driver takes off from a stop, drifts, and faces a different direction. Taking another 180-degree drift lands the racing car in a parking spot. The trick is to fit the car into the parking space perfectly.
Both drivers were confident enough to take a first try without demonstration. Although they understood the instructions, they couldn’t land in the parking space on the first try. However, they performed exceptionally well the second time.
But if we compare, Bottas did great in fitting the car into the parking spot. Zhou, on the other hand, was a little skewed.
Challenge 3: The Kick Wall of Boxes
The final challenge required the drivers to perform a second-gear drift. The trick was to hit a wall of boxes filled with green chalk smoke and continue sliding sideways despite the smoke covering the car windows, including the windscreen.
Again, for car racers who aren’t used to drifting, these F1 pilots did a great job. Zhou could control the car and continue drifting without getting off the tracks despite the smoke. After hitting the boxes, the green chalk sent Bottas spinning, but he kept the racing car within the tracks.
The Stake F1 Team 2024
The Kick Sauber team has turned a new page in 2024. It has changed its name and logo and revealed a new car. These are all expected changes when a team is rebranding. Founded by Peter Sauber, the Switzerland-based team has had a couple of sponsors and rebranded a couple of times over the years since joining Formula One.
It’s currently in partnership with the Stake betting platform for online casino games and sports bets. Rebranding for the sixth time in 2024, let’s take a look at the team’s rebranding timeline history since making it into F1:
- Sauber – 1993 to 2005: the team’s racing cars were powered by Mercedes
- BMW Sauber – 2006 to 2010
- Sauber – 2011 to 2018
- Alfa Romeo – 2019 to 2023
- Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber – 2024 to 2025
- An Audi branding is expected in 2026
The Team’s Performance
Since joining F1, the Sauber team has never won a World Championship. However, it has had remarkable drivers and made itself seen, hence the partnerships.
In 1993, the team participated in the World Championship for the first time. It scored its first finish as driver J.J Lehto took fifth spot in South Africa. The team ended the season with 12 points.
In 1995, one of its drivers, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, was recognized as one of the best drivers. He finished third at Monza, and the team achieved the first podium.
The team took seventh place in the 1995 Constructors Championship. Its drivers, Johny Herbert and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, finished third and fourth at the Monaco Grand Prix. Herbert took the same spot again in 1997’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
In the year 2000, the team had a bittersweet experience. Its highest finishes were two fifth spots in Germany and Monaco. It ended the Championship with six points and was withdrawn from the Brazil Grand Prix after experiencing wing failures.
It then improved its performance in the 2001 Championship when it moved to fourth place. As the Constructors championships went on, the team couldn’t maintain this or move up this place.
However, it had a remarkable performance in 2007. Although one of its cars had a terrible accident in Canada, the team had strong finishes, scored in all 17 races, and earned two podiums.
The following year, it finished the season with 135 points and took the first spot in Canada, the Drivers Championships. Since then, the results have been up and down, but the team has been unable to maintain these high placements.
Bottas and Zhou, both current drivers, joined the Stake F1 Team in 2022. In the last Alfa Romeo season, the 2023 Championship, they did their best, but the team ended up in ninth place. With the rebrand and all, we’re hoping for an improvement in the 2024 season.
Fans are following the FIA F1 2024 World Championship on various platforms, including Kick.com streaming and the Stake.com app.
Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas was born on August 28, 1989, in Nastola, Finland. He’s no stranger to Formula One, having entered 226 Grand Prix, earned 67 podiums, and has 1,797 points. He entered F1 in 2013 as part of the Williams team.
From 2017 to 2021, he drove for the Mercedes F1 team, where his star shone brighter. He received 13 podiums, tying up with Hamilton and Vettel. The 2017 season was a great confidence booster and preparation for what Bottas described as his worst Championship in 2018.
That’s the year he had zero wins. In 2019, his victories went up by four, then down by two in 2020, and then dropped to one in 2021. After five seasons, Mercedes decided to drop this Finnish player.
Luckily, he got to restart and redefine his career in the Stake F1 Team. Although his Championship with the team didn’t go very well in 2023, he has a chance to improve in 2024 as the team leader and with Zhou Guanyu by his side.
Stake F1 Team’s Zhou Guanyu
Zhou Guanyu made history in 2022 by becoming the first Chinese driver to enter F1. He’s also currently the only Chinese driver in the F1 racing motorsport. So far, he’s entered 48 Grand Prix, earned 12 points, and had the highest race finish of eight.
The driver was born on the 30th of May in 1999 in Shanghai. Although Ma Qinghua, a Chinese driver close to getting into F1 after partaking in an F1 weekend, didn’t make it, Zhou has always wanted to be part of this international car racing organization.
His attendance at the Grand Prix, which was held in his city in 2004, enhanced this desire. His family moved to England when he was 12, encouraging him to continue partaking in motorsports.
In 2014, he was signed by Ferrari and placed in their driver’s academy. This led to his participation in the 2015 Italian F4 Championship, where he finished second. His performance proved that Ferrari made the right choice and was an excellent way of being noticed by F1 teams.
He was moved to Renault’s academy in 2019. The driver had multiple wins and great pole positions in his three Formula Two seasons, which allowed him to enter the driver’s title in 2021. As a result, he was spotted by the Stake F1 Team’s principal, Fred Vasseur.
In Closing: Stake F1 Team Can Do More Than Drifting
The Kick.com drifting event featuring Zhou and Bottas was significant to the team’s rebranding. It got the Stake community hubbubing and looking forward to Stakegains predictions before placing bets on their teams and favorite players. The drivers’ exceptional drifting skills have proven their ability to control speedy racing cars.
Also, they’ve given the Stake F1 Team fans hope for the rest of the 2024 Contractor’s Championship. Besides their excellent performance in the drifting challenges, Bottas and Zhou have a rich motorsport history. We can say the same for the Stake F1 Team.
The team and its current drivers share the common element of not having had the smoothest motorsport experience. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber has a chance to win the Championship for the first time ever.
Bottas can move up the ranks and obtain his 2017 level. There’s room to improve further, get more points, and win first positions in the Grand Prix events.
To maintain his Formula 2 successes, Zhou has a chance to prove himself in his first F1 team. He can do this by obtaining higher finishing positions, earning a podium, and earning more points. This is a fresh start and a win-win for the parties involved.
