Sauber Sees Silver Lining Despite Point-less Finish at Monza: Bottas Remains Optimistic Amid Tough Season

Clean team sees "encouraging signal" yet Valtteri Bottas remains without points

Clean team leader maintains there are grounds for hope

Sauber is confident that they have reduced the distance to their closest competitors even though they haven't earned any points at the F1 Italian Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas secured the 16th position at the Monza race, finishing two spots in front of his teammate Guanyu Zhou.

Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, and Logan Sargeant (who no longer holds a position with Williams) are the only Formula 1 drivers in the 2024 season who haven't scored any points. Additionally, Sauber is the sole team yet to earn a point.

Sauber's pair of drivers secured the last spots on the starting grid, leading to Bottas being equipped with hard tires to attempt the longest initial run. However, the team's strategy ultimately proved to be mostly ineffective.

Nevertheless, team spokesperson Alessandro Alunni Bravi maintains a sense of hope.

He stated that despite the final rankings appearing similar to previous races, there were encouraging aspects in the team's performance.

"Each driver successfully maintained their tyres, whether hard or medium, enabling us to adhere to our pre-race strategy as tyre wear remained manageable."

“Despite this, we still don’t have the speed necessary to compete for points. However, the low-drag package introduced at Monza along with the adjustments made for qualifying enhanced the car's balance, providing Valtteri and Zhou with an opportunity to compete.”

"We have a significant distance to cover before we can compete for points, but it's crucial to recognize that today we've narrowed the gap with our main rivals – this is an encouraging development worth highlighting."

Bottas commented on the race, saying, "It was a straightforward and calm race for us. We opted for a one-stop strategy, beginning with the hard tires, as we aimed to try something different and potentially benefit from a well-timed Safety Car."

"Regrettably, our efforts didn’t pan out, but I believe it was worthwhile to attempt it."

Reflecting on the race, I believe I made all the right moves. We improved our standing by a few spots, reaching 16th place through our own efforts, but that was realistically the best outcome possible.

"We haven’t seen significant improvements in our speed. Although our weekend began on a positive note, we struggled to maintain that momentum and didn’t make substantial gains. Nevertheless, this weekend was certainly an improvement over Zandvoort. We have a considerable amount of work to do to make further progress, and we’ll be focusing on that as we prepare for the upcoming back-to-back events in Baku and Singapore."

Zhou commented, "Our speed today wasn't sufficient to contend for points, particularly in a straightforward race without any disruptions or major surprises."

"Our speed was better than it was last weekend in Zandvoort, but we're still lagging behind our main rivals in terms of performance."

Over the weekend, there has been noticeable progress in our single-lap speed, yet it's evident that we must fine-tune the car and have an impeccable performance throughout the weekend to achieve the optimal outcome.

"Instead of depending on chance, our team's strategy is to keep our heads down and persistently work hard to shave off those vital fractions of a second that will push us closer to securing a top ten position."

Sauber is set to transition into Audi next year, though they will maintain their existing identity for now.

Nico Hulkenberg has secured a contract with Haas for the 2025 season, which puts Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in a tough position as they fight to stay in Formula 1.

The only teams with open driver positions for the upcoming season are Sauber and Red Bull.

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