Bottas criticizes Sauber for pit stop problems

Without Esteban Ocon’s third pit stop (the Alpine F1 driver was the only one who had to make an extra stop in the pits), the Sauber cars would have crossed the finish line in Melbourne’s Albert Park last. And so Valtteri Bottas took 14th place, his teammate Guanyu Zhou – 15th.

They say the entire Swiss team is in a state of extreme frustration, and for good reason. Ridiculous delays at pit stops continue, although Alessandro Alunni Bravi, who represented Sauber at official press conferences, assured before the Australian Grand Prix that certain measures had been taken. However, he admitted that the problem has not yet been fully resolved as it takes time.

In Bottas’s case, a problem arose again after eight laps of the race, when he entered the pits for his first pit stop: the mechanics spent a long time tinkering with the left front wheel of his car, and the Finn almost lost a half minute. In fact, you might forget about any decent results after this. But on his second pit stop another accident happened: this time a wheel nut rolled into the part of the pit lane along which cars drive to the exit of the track. Sauber was fined 5,000 euros for this.

This is how journalists from the Swiss tabloid Blick commented on the work of the team: “Alunni Bravi, who on the eve of the race again talked about the possibility of earning points, has probably already prepared a speech in his defense. Andreas Seidl, who heads Audi’s Formula 1 program, must finally intervene and stop the Italian from making such unfounded statements. Sauber could end up in last place in the constructors’ championship.”

In Australia, Bottas started thirteenth and given the developments in the race he could very well have reached the top ten, but the team ruined everything again. After the race, he criticized TV channel Viaplay: “It was a difficult race, although I started well and set a good pace. Yes, we should have earned points, but again everything was lost in the pit stops. As you can see, the problem is not solved yet.

Dealing with pit stops is the top priority. Otherwise it doesn’t matter what pace the car can go or how well you drive. Personally, though, I’m not really worried because I know that if the team can’t solve the pit stop problem, it doesn’t matter at all how I drive.”

According to Blick, the team will not receive remade wheel nuts and new hubs until May during the Imola stage, raising the risk that pit stop problems will continue. Let’s see how Sauber will conduct the Japanese Grand Prix, which takes place in less than two weeks.