Bottas and Zhou wow fans with drifting skills at Stake team event by Kick
09:12, 17 Apr 2024
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Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are no strangers to the Formula 1 world. Anyone who has ever bet on F1 racing via Racing Post, for example, knows that these two drivers from the Stake F1 Team did reasonably well last year. But their team could not fight against the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
The question is whether Bottas and Guanyu have even more skills. Have they ever been in a drift car, what are their drifting skills like and could they make it in Formula Drift?
Car drifting with the Stake F1 Team
We already knew that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu can race on the track, but can they also drift and are they suitable for Formula Drift? We asked the two gentlemen from the Sauber Alfa Romeo team Stake to put it to the test together with Kick.com and show their Formula Drift qualities.
We invited them to the Calder Park circuit in Victoria, Australia, for an afternoon of Formula Drift in some fast drifting cars. Both gentlemen, who normally drive an Alfa Romeo, took their day in Formula Drift as seriously as the Grands Prix.
Spinning donuts with Bottas and Guanyu
The gentlemen put on their Stake F1 Team racing suits with the well-known racing logos. The Finnish Bottas and the Chinese Guanyu then sat in a pimped Formula Drift vehicle.
The first task that awaited the gentlemen was to spin donuts with their car in a defined area. We followed the gentlemen with the camera. Both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu completed this car drift assignment very well.
It produced beautiful pictures of smoking tyres and almost perfect skid marks. And we haven't even mentioned the sound of the tyres screaming yet. If you want to follow the entire drift competition, watch the complete video of Bottas and Guanyu on a drift adventure.
Park while drifting
We followed Bottas and Guanyu on the next assignment. The question was, can Bottas and Guanyu park sideways while drifting? On the first attempt, Bottas didn’t quite manage it, but later, he placed the car perfectly between the cones.
Zhou Guanyu’s first attempt was quite successful. Later, he hit the cones. Yet we must honestly admit that we are not criticising Guanyu, especially at this speed.
Car drifting with obstacles
The next task is drifting on the track, but with an extra obstacle, a large wall of Kick boxes. As soon as Valtteri Bottas drove through the wall, the black boxes flew in all directions, leaving a cloud of green smoke behind.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, just like us and the entire Stake community. The drivers had a broad grin.
Our final verdict on the drifting legends Bottas and Guanyu
Ultimately, we can be brief about the drift qualities of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. The gentlemen of Stake F1 Team can not only race F1, they absolutely have the right skills for drifting.
So if things ever go wrong in Formula 1, both gentlemen can start a new career as a drifter. Judging by their reactions, they think so, so who knows, they may one day become legends in Formula Drift and we will be able to bet on them via Racing Post.
The Stake F1 Team
At the end of 2023, stake.com casino announced that the Sauber Alfa Romeo F1 team would run under the Stake name for the next two seasons. At the same time, the team announced that the streaming platform Kick will have their name on the chassis in the coming year. The Formula 1 car will drive around the circuit under the name Kick Sauber C44.
Stake.com opts for innovation and entertainment
In a statement, stake.com indicated that they will focus on both innovation and entertainment over the next two seasons. The plan is to create a team that has more connection with the fans, including the Stake community. It will all start with the spectacular launch of the new car. Keep an eye on the stake.com app and Stakegains for more information.
Who is behind Stake?
What about Stake, the company that will have their own Formula 1 team for the next two seasons. Stake is originally an Australian company founded by Edward Craven. Stake is an online casino, which can be found via stake.com.
The company was founded less than seven years ago and has already grown into a billion-dollar company. Not only that, they also have a Formula 1 team and are the main sponsor of the Everton Football Club who play in the English Premier League. They are also sponsors of various boxers. Stake.com's net worth is estimated at €1.9 billion.
Stake owns kick.com
For those wondering who owns kick.com, we have the answer. Stake is the owner of kick.com. The company decided to launch their own streaming service as a direct competitor to the well-known streaming platform Twitch. To make streaming on Kick.com attractive, they immediately attracted a few major streamers. Kick managed to acquire xQc for 100 million dollars. xQc could previously be seen on Twitch with streams in which you see him playing video games.
Think of online slots, but also games such as Grand Theft Auto. Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has also switched to Kick.com. You can watch those streams via the kick.com app and on Kick's YouTube page.
The Kick F1 Sim Racing team
Stake has their own Formula 1 team that will also bear the name kick.com. In addition, there is a Kick F1 Sim Racing Team. This is an esports racing team that has been competing against other F1 sim racing teams since 2018.
The team has already won 10 times and reached the podium 22 times in recent years. In 2023 the team was reinforced by a new driver. The new driver is 20-year-old Xander van Dijken from Groningen.
Although he is relatively new to the esports world, he has already managed to climb the podiums many times. The Kick F1 Sim Racing Team is pleased to welcome him. Xander is not the only Dutchman on the team. 18-year-old Thomas Ronhaar from Almelo has also been active with the team for a while.
The team also includes Brendon Leigh from Reading, United Kingdom. He has already won six times and reached 13 podiums. In the 2023-2024 season, the team will try to defend their place at the top of the standings.
The history of the Stake F1 Team
The Stake F1 Team was founded in 1970 by Peter Sauber under the name Sauber Group. They quickly became a well-known name in the car world but only entered Formula 1 in 1993.
Since then, this small Swiss company has shown that they deserve a place in Formula 1. The company is known for dedication, good technology and passion for racing. In addition, the company uses very modern facilities.
They focus on vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics and work together with a team of dedicated people and young talent. It is expected that even more innovations will be made possible with Stake as a partner.
The drivers of the Sauber Alfa Romeo
The Sauber Team has a very interesting history. A number of great drivers have driven for the team, and now the top drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, drive for the team.
Once the team had entered into F1, a large number of talented drivers came along. Kimi Räikkönen drove his first Formula 1 Grands Prix for the team. This driver quickly switched to McLaren but returned in 2022.
In 2007, Sebastian Vettel made his debut in Formula 1 with the team. A few years later, the then young driver Sergio Pérez joined. He achieved no fewer than three podium wins in the Grand Prix for the Sauber Team. That led to interesting results on Racing Post. In 2022, both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas signed with the team.
About Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas is a Finnish driver who says he learned the tricks of the trade on the icy and snowy roads of Finland. Meanwhile, Bottas is an old hand in the business, because he already entered Formula 1 in 2013. That year he signed with Williams.
In recent years, Bottas has managed to achieve 1797 points in Grands Prix, and has won 10 Grands Prix. Something that even at Racing Post they could not predict. One of his best years in F1 sport was 2017 when he drove for Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas also had a number of interesting victories for Mercedes in 2019. Still, his era with this team came to an end in 2022. He switched to the Sauber Team. Together with Zhou Guanyu, they have shown in recent years that they have not forgotten F1 racing.
Valtteri Bottas's personal life
Of course, there is more to the life of racing alone. When Valtteri isn't racing for stake.com on the track you'll probably find him on a road bike. Not only does he love cycling himself. He will also follow his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell, who is a successful Australian cyclist.
She competed for Australia at the 2020 Olympic Games, and other events. It was therefore certainly no punishment to travel to Australia for Kick and Stake for a test in Formula Drift. You may now be wondering if Tiffany is Valtteri Bottas' wife, but that's not the case yet. Valtteri was previously married.
From 2016 to 2019, Valtteri Bottas was married to Emilia Pikkarainen. Emilia, an Olympic swimmer from Finland. In an Instagram message, Bottas said that they had grown apart because of his F1 career and were going to divorce.
The much-discussed Valtteri Bottas calendar
Valtteri Bottas’ humor and good heart is evident from the Valtteri Bottas calendar that he released in 2023. This calendar featured Bottas naked. By the way, Bottas didn't just bare his buttocks, he did it for a good cause. In total, they raised almost €140,000 for prostate cancer research.
About Zhou Guanyu
Zhou Guanyu is a Chinese driver who signed with Sauber Team in 2022. This was his debut in Formula 1, and he was also the first Chinese national to get a place as a driver in Formula 1. Zhou Guanyu caught the F1 bug at an early age.
As a five-year-old boy, he visited the Grand Prix circuit in Shanghai to cheer on his hero Fernando Alonso. To realise his dream of becoming an F1 driver, he moved to England with his family at the age of twelve.
From Formula 4 he slowly managed to rise to Formula 2 and eventually signed with stake.com in 2022. At the time of writing he was 16th in the F1 rankings.
Accident Zhou Guanyu
In March 2024, Guanyu suffered an accident during a practice session in Saudi Arabia. Even before the race he expressed his reservations about certain segments of the circuit. Things went terribly wrong during the third practice. After the accident, Zhou Guanyu was fine, but he was sorry about losing the car.
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