After years of F1’s scriptwriters limiting him to a supporting function, moderately than a fundamental character, Valtteri Bottas may hardly have had a greater opening chapter written for him after transferring to Sauber – then Alfa Romeo – in 2022.
Whereas Kevin Magnussen stole a lot of the highlight by ending one place forward of him within the opening spherical in Bahrain, Bottas’s sixth place was nonetheless an impressive consequence for his opening race along with his new workforce. And with rookie workforce mate Zhou Guanyu claiming tenth on debut, Bottas was thrilled with the 9 factors scored by the workforce on the first try.
“It’s a good way to begin the season,” he stated. “Everybody did an excellent job and we’re getting into the suitable route.”
That opening race was alleged to set the tone for Sauber’s new period with its all-new driver line up. And it appeared to do exactly that, at first. Via the primary 9 rounds of 2022, Bottas and Zhou mixed for over 50 factors to take a seat sixth within the constructors’ championship – which is the place they went on to complete after beating Aston Martin on a tiebreaker.
Nonetheless, during the last three seasons, Sauber’s standing has meandered from midfield mavericks to middling to moribund. Culminating in in as we speak, October eighth, marking one full calendar yr because the final time that Sauber got here away from a grand prix with some extent.
For the reason that 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, when Bottas and Zhou scored a double factors end in eighth and ninth, neither of the pair have completed inside the highest ten even as soon as within the 23 grands prix and 5 dash races held since then. Over that very same interval, each one among Sauber’s 9 rivals have scored a minimum of 20 factors, with Williams having the next-lowest whole with 21, ten fewer than Haas.
After a optimistic efficiency at Losail, Sauber’s type various wildly over the ultimate 5 rounds of 2023. Following a median exhibiting at Circuit of the Americas, each Bottas and Zhou reached Q3 in Mexico – solely the second time the pair had completed so over 2023. However regardless of a promising beginning place, each drivers light by way of the race to complete effectively outdoors of the factors.
That was adopted by a double Q1 elimination on the subsequent spherical at Interlagos, however the race itself appeared way more promising. That’s, till each vehicles suffered separate overheating issues that pressured them to desert the race to keep away from inflicting extreme energy unit harm to their vehicles. Additional frustration adopted in Las Vegas, the place seventh on the grid for Bottas was ruined by him being caught up on the first nook when Fernando Alonso spun in entrance of him and was hit by Sergio Perez behind, inflicting extreme harm that compromised his complete race. The season then ended with a whisper moderately than a roar in Yas Marina, the place the workforce by no means appeared in competition for the highest ten all weekend.
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Getting into 2024 with the identical driver line up however a brand new identify and a garish new luminous inexperienced livery, Sauber had been aiming to construct momentum over the approaching two seasons till they ultimately evolve into Audi’s manufacturing unit workforce in 2026. Nonetheless, the season has been extra like a kick within the head than a kick-start for the workforce’s new period and its daring, aggressive rebranding.
Most depressingly for Sauber, the opening race of the season in Bahrain stays the closest they’ve come to a high ten end to this point. Regardless of each drivers being knocked out of Q1, Zhou rose as much as tenth within the race with a brilliantly executed technique earlier than being handed by Lance Stroll within the later laps. Zhou completed eleventh, the very best ending automotive a lap down and round 11 seconds away from factors.
Though the workforce had clear race tempo, Sauber had been hamstrung by a significant and embarrassing drawback. After Bottas suffered a near-minute lengthy pit cease in Bahrain, Zhou confronted additional troubles within the second race in Jeddah. Because it turned out, the workforce wanted to utterly redesign their wheel nuts and wheel weapons and when there have been additional issues in spherical three in Australia, workforce administration apologised to each of their drivers for the continued issues – particularly as Bottas had been operating tenth till a 30-second pit cease dropped him to the again of the sector and destroyed any risk of battling for factors.
Because the season progressed, Sauber slipped additional and additional away from not simply the entrance of the sector, however from their nearest rivals too. Other than a single Q3 look for Bottas in China, Saturdays proved soul-crushing fruitless for Sauber over the primary 19 rounds. Out of 36 makes an attempt, Bottas and Zhou mixed to flee Q1 simply eight occasions between them – the worst report on the grid by a major margin. Whereas Sauber’s performances within the first 5 rounds noticed them a median of 1.12% slower than the quickest time within the highest session they reached, they’ve fallen to 1.3% off the last word tempo over the most recent 5 rounds.
Sauber’s improvement of their C44 was additionally falling behind these groups closest to them they they wanted to beat to have any hop of factors. The workforce launched an improve bundle on the Hungarian Grand Prix, however solely Bottas had the advantage of it for that weekend and the next race in Spa-Francorchamps. Nonetheless, it appeared to have little have an effect on on Sauber’s outcomes – Bottas’s finishes of sixteenth and fifteenth over these two rounds equalling these of the 2 races previous to the workforce’s upgrades.
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Getting into the summer time break comfortably final within the championship, Sauber had been nonetheless the one workforce but to attain. Discovering some momentum for the second leg of the season could be crucial for his or her prospects of scoring some factors earlier than the yr’s finish. Nonetheless, the primary spherical again at Zandvoort would find yourself being “probably the most troublesome race of the season” by the workforce’s personal admission. In a race with no retirements, each Botta and Zhou sank away from the 18 vehicles in entrance of them, turning into the one workforce to complete two laps down on winner Lando Norris.
Since then, Sauber haven’t come any considerably nearer to breaking into the highest ten, regardless of the efforts of their drivers. Significantly these of Bottas, who has usually been placing in stable performances which have been simple to miss given the dearth of tempo of his automotive. With solely six rounds remaining, Sauber are staring down the barrel of being the primary workforce to fail to attain some extent over a full season since Haas of their infamously underdeveloped 2021 automotive.
Sauber’s efforts haven’t been helped by the record-high reliability fee in 2024, that has seen the fewest retirements in any yr within the sport’s historical past on common. Zhou’s eleventh place in Bahrain and the workforce’s thirteenth place finishes in Monaco, Canada and Spain may simply have produced factors in earlier seasons with only a handful of retirements for vehicles forward.
With Audi having lofty ambitions for his or her long-anticipated entry into Method 1 in 2026, the German big will likely be hoping that their appreciable sources will likely be sufficient to pull the workforce additional up the sector than the place they sit simply over a yr faraway from their second of fact. However 2025 will likely be a transitional yr for the workforce, with Nico Hulkenberg becoming a member of and his workforce mate but to be confirmed.
Whoever joins Hulkenberg, and what impression Audi’s bespoke energy unit could have when the subsequent rules revolution takes place, is a query for the longer term. For now, the ultimate races for the partnership of Bottas and Zhou are unlikely to any extra productive, or much less irritating, than the remainder of the 2024 season.
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