Sauber Shows Glimmers of Hope Despite Zero Points: Bottas Reflects on Monza Performance

Bottas yet to score; Sauber sees encouraging signs

Sauber's team leader maintains a hopeful outlook

Sauber thinks 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 the Monza race, outperforming his teammate Guanyu Zhou who finished two spots behind him.

Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou, and Logan Sargeant (who no longer has his seat with Williams) are the only Formula 1 drivers in 2024 yet to score a point, with Sauber being the only team still without points.

Sauber's pair of drivers started from the rear of the grid, prompting the team to equip Bottas with hard tires for an extended initial run. However, these strategies proved to be mostly ineffective.

Nonetheless, team spokesperson Alessandro Alunni Bravi maintains a sense of optimism.

He stated that although the team's final standings don't appear significantly different from prior races, there were encouraging aspects in their performance.

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

Naturally, we're still not at the level needed to compete for points due to our insufficient overall speed. However, the low-drag package introduced at Monza along with the adjustments made for qualifying helped enhance the car's balance, providing Valtteri and Zhou an opportunity to contend.

"We're not yet in a position to compete for points, but it's crucial to recognize that we've made progress in closing the gap with our main rivals. This is a positive development worth highlighting."

Reflecting on the race, Bottas said, "It was a straightforward race without much happening for us. We opted for a one-stop strategy, beginning with the hard tires, aiming to try something different and hoping to benefit from the timing of a possible Safety Car."

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

Reflecting on the race's progression, I have no regrets about my decisions: we managed to overtake a few competitors and secured the 16th position through our own efforts, but that was realistically our limit.

"Our speed hasn't significantly increased; the weekend began positively, but we struggled to maintain that initial momentum and saw little improvement. Nevertheless, it was definitely an improvement over our performance in Zandvoort. We have a substantial amount of work to do to take the next step forward, and that's what we'll be focusing on as we prepare for the upcoming consecutive races in Baku and Singapore."

Zhou remarked, "Our speed today wasn't sufficient to compete nearer to the points, particularly in a race that was smooth, with no interruptions or significant surprises."

"Although we showed better speed than last weekend in Zandvoort, we are still lagging behind our main rivals in terms of performance."

Over the weekend, there has been a noticeable enhancement in our single-lap speed. However, it is evident that we need to fine-tune the car's optimal performance and ensure everything goes perfectly throughout the weekend to achieve the best outcome.

“Our team is dedicated to hard work and persistence, aiming to shave off those vital fractions of a second that will help us break into the top ten, instead of depending on luck.”

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

Nico Hulkenberg has secured a spot with Haas for the 2025 season, putting pressure on Bottas and Zhou as they fight to stay in Formula 1.

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

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