Bottas remains optimistic despite Sauber’s worrying results

Unfortunately, races are following the same pattern for the Sauber team. This weekend, they experienced another very disappointing challenge, finishing in the last two positions, more than two laps behind the day’s winner, the British driver Lando Norris. These results are starting to seriously worry some team members, starting with their Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas, who did not hide his disappointment at the end of the race.

A race pace well below the other teams.

The winner of 10 Formula 1 Grand Prix said, “I did not expect such a poor performance. The start actually went well, and we were in a decent position compared to our starting point, but after about five or six laps, I saw that I was struggling to keep up with the pack. That’s when I knew that we didn’t really have the pace.” After a disappointing qualification in 18th place, the Finn was expecting a tough race. However, the start of the race seemed promising for him, with many positions gained as early as the first lap, partly thanks to his soft tires, to the point of being able to fight with his former teammate Lewis Hamilton.

However, the Grand Prix turned out to be a ordeal for the two drivers from the Hinwil team, who finished at the back of the pack, in 19th and 20th positions. The Finn nevertheless tried to put this poor performance into perspective, considering that it mainly results from the circuit’s configuration, which is not at all suitable for the characteristics of the car.

« This track really exposed the weaknesses of the car with banked turns, adverse cambers, inclines, and on top of that, the wind; it really highlighted the car’s sensitivity. The whole car is too unstable, too on edge, it’s not really a stable platform, and anything that disturbs it, like crosswinds, makes things much more difficult.
» The former Williams driver is hoping that the upcoming Grand Prix races will be more favorable to the car and allow it to get back into the middle of the pack, positions they seemed to be approaching before the summer break. Bottas notably qualified 12th in Hungary before finishing 14th the following weekend in Belgium.

« This weekend has given us a lot of things to consider for the future and a lot of things to learn. The most important thing is that the Monza circuit, next week, will be very different. I am more hopeful before the next race. So I remain optimistic that we can have better weekends and I hope it was an exception. »

Many issues to address in order to become competitive again.

The Finn still seems to believe in the potential of Sauber, as he is looking to renew his contract within Alessandro Alunni Bravi’s team, even though he is aware that not all issues encountered by the car will be resolved immediately.

« It is a long-term problem, I do not think there is a quick solution – but this track is quite unique and this kind of wind is rare. As a team, we must continue to work hard and push ourselves to not lose confidence, as we still have many races ahead of us. » Comments that were echoed by his teammate Guanyu Zhou, the Chinese driver remaining optimistic despite disappointing results and a car that is too sensitive to weather conditions.

« Things should improve at Monza, on a different track that should also be less affected by the wind. Our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions so far, and we need to work on this for the rest of the season. So it will be important for us to understand why we are struggling so much with fuel consumption.

In the meantime, Sauber still remains in last place in the constructors’ standings, being the only team that has not yet scored any points this season. Therefore, Sauber’s engineers have a lot of work ahead of them in the coming weeks, with solutions that must be found before the arrival of Audi and the new regulations in 2026.