Sauber Spots Glimmers of Hope Despite Point-less Monza Finish: Boss Stresses Optimism for Future

Sauber identifies "positive indicator" despite Valtteri Bottas not scoring points

Sauber chief maintains there are reasons to be hopeful

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, finishing two spots in front of his teammate Guanyu Zhou.

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

Sauber's pair of drivers ended up at the rear of the grid during qualifying, leading the team to equip Bottas with hard tires and attempt an extended first stint. However, these strategies proved to be mostly unsuccessful.

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

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

"Each driver successfully handled their hard and medium tires, which enabled us to stick to our pre-race strategy and keep tire wear in check."

"Certainly, we're still not in a position to compete for points since we don't have the overall speed: however, the low-drag configuration we introduced at Monza, along with the adjustments we made for qualifying, enhanced the car's balance and provided Valtteri and Zhou an opportunity to compete."

"We have a significant distance to cover before we can compete for points, but it's crucial to recognize that we've made progress today by narrowing the gap with our main rivals – this is a positive development that deserves to be highlighted."

Bottas commented on the race, saying, "It was a straightforward and calm race for us. We chose a one-stop strategy, beginning with the hard tires, as we aimed to try a different approach and hoped for a favorable Safety Car situation."

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

Reflecting on the sequence of events during the race, I realize there's nothing I would change. We managed to improve our standing to P16 through our own efforts, but that was essentially the best outcome we could achieve.

"We haven't seen significant improvements in our speed; although the weekend began positively, we struggled to maintain our initial momentum and didn't make much progress. Despite this, it was definitely a better performance compared to Zandvoort. There's a substantial amount of work to be done to advance further, which will be our focus as we prepare for the upcoming consecutive races in Baku and Singapore."

Zhou commented, “Our speed today wasn’t sufficient to compete for a higher position, especially in a straightforward race without any disruptions or major surprises.”

"Although our speed showed a noticeable improvement from the previous weekend in Zandvoort, we are still trailing behind our main rivals in terms of performance."

Over the weekend, we observed some progress in our single-lap speed, but it's evident that we must identify the car's optimal performance and deliver a perfect weekend to achieve the best outcome.

“Instead of depending on luck, our team concentrates on diligent work to shave off those vital fractions of a second that will help us break into the top ten.”

Sauber is set to transition into Audi next year, although they will retain their existing identity for the time being.

Haas has confirmed that Nico Hulkenberg will join their team for the 2025 season, putting pressure on Bottas and Zhou as they fight to keep their spots in Formula 1.

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

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