Sauber Sees Silver Lining Despite Pointless Streak: Bottas and Team Optimistic Post-Monza

Sauber Sees Encouraging Signs Despite Valtteri Bottas' Lack of Points

Sauber Chief Maintains Optimistic Outlook

Sauber is confident that they have narrowed the distance to their closest competitors, even though they have yet to earn any points at the F1 Italian Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas secured the 16th position at Monza, while his teammate Guanyu Zhou finished two spots behind him.

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

The Sauber team had their drivers start from the rear of the grid, with Bottas equipped with hard tires to extend his initial run. However, these strategies did not yield significant results for the team.

Nevertheless, team spokesperson Alessandro Alunni Bravi maintains that there is a degree of hope.

He stated that despite the finishing positions not appearing much different from previous races, there were some encouraging aspects in the team's performance.

"Each driver successfully managed their hard and medium tyres, enabling us to stick to our pre-race strategy and maintain controlled tyre degradation."

"Naturally, this isn't sufficient to compete for points yet, as we are still missing overall speed. However, the low-drag configuration we introduced at Monza and the adjustments to the setup for qualifying enhanced the car's balance, providing Valtteri and Zhou an opportunity to contend."

"We have a significant distance to cover before we can compete for points, but it's crucial to note that the difference between us and our main rivals has decreased today – it's an encouraging indication that we should highlight."

Bottas shared his thoughts on the race, saying, "It was a straightforward and calm race for us. We chose a one-stop strategy, beginning with the hard tires, in an attempt to try a different approach and possibly benefit from a timely Safety Car intervention."

“Regrettably, things didn’t go as planned for us, but I believe it was worthwhile to attempt it.”

Reflecting on the sequence of events in the race, I wouldn't change a thing. We managed to move up a few spots, reaching 16th place purely based on our performance, but that was realistically the best outcome we could achieve.

"We haven't seen significant improvement in our speed. Although our weekend began promisingly, we failed to maintain that initial momentum or make substantial gains. Nonetheless, this weekend was definitely better than Zandvoort. We have a lot of work to do to advance further, which we will focus on as we prepare for the upcoming consecutive races in Baku and Singapore."

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

"Although our speed has noticeably improved compared to the previous weekend in Zandvoort, we are still lagging behind our main competitors in terms of performance."

Over the weekend, there has been progress in terms of single-lap speed. However, it is evident that we must identify the car's optimal performance settings and deliver a perfect performance throughout the weekend to achieve the best outcome.

“Instead of depending on chance, our team is dedicated to diligently working to gain those vital fractions of a second that will move us nearer to the top ten.”

Next year, Sauber will progress into becoming Audi but will keep their present identity.

Haas has secured Nico Hulkenberg for the 2025 season, which puts Bottas and Zhou in a battle to stay in Formula 1.

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

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