Sauber’s Glimmers of Hope Amid Point-less Streak: Bottas and Zhou Strive for Progress

Sauber sees "positive indication" but Valtteri Bottas remains without points

Sauber leader maintains there are grounds for hope

Sauber thinks they are now closer to their closest competitors, even though they haven't earned any points at the F1 Italian Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas secured 16th place at Monza, finishing two positions in front of his teammate Guanyu Zhou.

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

Sauber's drivers started from the rear of the grid, prompting the team to equip Bottas with hard tires to extend his initial run. However, these strategies did not yield significant results.

Nevertheless, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, the team's spokesperson, maintains that there is a sense of optimism.

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

"Each driver effectively handled their hard and medium tyres, enabling us to stick to our pre-race strategy while keeping wear and tear in check."

"While it's not yet sufficient to compete for points, our overall speed remains lacking. However, the low-drag package introduced at Monza and the adjustments made for qualifying enhanced the car's balance, providing Valtteri and Zhou an opportunity to contend."

"We're still far from being in contention for points, but it's crucial to recognize that we've made progress today by narrowing the gap with our main rivals – a positive development worth highlighting."

Bottas commented on the race by saying, "It was a straightforward race for us without any major incidents. We decided on a one-stop strategy, beginning with the hard tires, to try something different and hopefully benefit if a Safety Car came out at the right time."

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

Reflecting on the race's progress, I have no regrets about our strategy: we managed to advance a few spots, reaching 16th place through our own efforts, but that was realistically our limit.

"We didn't see significant gains in speed; though our weekend began promisingly, we struggled to maintain that progress and didn't see much improvement. Nonetheless, it was certainly an improvement over our performance in Zandvoort. We have considerable work to do to advance further, and we'll be focusing on that as we prepare for the upcoming back-to-back races in Baku and Singapore."

Zhou mentioned that their speed today wasn't sufficient to compete for points, particularly in a race that was straightforward and free from interruptions or major surprises.

"Although our speed showed significant progress from last weekend's race in Zandvoort, we are still lagging behind our main rivals in performance."

Over the weekend, there has been a noticeable enhancement in our one-lap speed. However, it's evident that we must fine-tune the car's performance and deliver a perfect weekend to achieve the optimal outcome.

“Instead of depending on chance, our team is dedicated to staying focused and working diligently to shave off those vital fractions of a second that will help us reach the top ten.”

Sauber is set to transform into Audi next year, although they will keep their existing identity for now.

Nico Hulkenberg has secured a contract with Haas for the 2025 season, putting Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in a position where they must compete fiercely to retain their spots in Formula 1.

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

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