F1 team Sauber fails to make it in 2O24
The Monaco Grand Prix weekend proved a difficult one for Kick Sauber, with the team now the only one on the grid yet to score a point in 2024. Sauber is hoping to catch up with Williams and Alpine, both 2 points behind in the constructors' championship.
After qualifying in 17th and 18th places, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu had their work cut out for them to try to move up in the pack.
The team tried a different strategy for Bottas by opting for new tires after the race restart. This strategy helped him to set some quick laps at the beginning before making some overtakes later in the race. The Finnish driver could only finish in 13th place, as he spent a good part of the race stuck in traffic behind Fernando Alonso.
“We tried to seize the opportunities,” explained Bottas after the race. “I was unlucky with the hard starting compound because of the red flag, so I think everyone who started with the softer range benefited more.”
We still tried everything, but it was on board the Alonso train, which wasn’t very fun in the end, it was quite slow! But what can we do about it? »
Bottas hopes that the team will be able to have better performances at other circuits. Qualifying was difficult, [we lacked] pace, so [it’s] something we really need to understand,” said the winner of 10 F1 races. “Normally, Monaco is a bit of an exception, so that doesn’t tell the whole story. But there is a lot to learn from this weekend, especially from qualifying.”
Same observation for Zhou.
Zhou also had a difficult day, narrowly avoiding the heavy collision between Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hülkenberg on the first lap of the race. After a late pit stop, the Chinese driver finished the race in 16th and last position.
(C) It was a pretty delicate moment for these three [pilots], Zhou commented on the first lap crash. (C) I’m glad they are okay. For me, it was a very boring race, to be honest.
« I think we had a pretty good strategy until the red flag, then everyone was in the same boat, there is no overtaking potential. We tried to go until the end, and unfortunately the tire was dead for me with 15 laps to go, so we had to make another stop.
Like Bottas, Zhou believes that Sauber must improve in the future after what turned out to be one of their toughest weekends of the campaign so far, with the next event on the schedule being the Canadian Grand Prix from 7 to 9 June.
« This is definitely one of the hardest [we have ever] experienced in terms of overall lack of rhythm. Monaco is a question of trust and this weekend, I looked for it, and I didn’t really have much of it.
« The race management seems better, we just need to work on it a bit more. We still lack pace compared to the guys around us. I am sure Montreal will be different, it’s a more usual track, but it’s true that we just need to improve a little and find a few tenths, because we are missing quite a lot. »
Bravi is still satisfied with his team
Although it was a tough weekend for the team in Monte Carlo, the team’s representative, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, was pleased to see an improvement in the team’s pit stops, having faced problems in this area earlier in the season.
On a positive note: our three pit stops today were the fastest of the whole season so far,” Bravi declared. “They were fast and consistent, something important because it shows that we can react and improve.”
« Our main goal for the upcoming races is to improve in all areas to get back into the fight for points. »
