Valtteri Bottas, Sauber Formula 1 driver, expressed his dissatisfaction over “long-term” projection of struggles. The team had the ‘weakest’ performance at Dutch Grand Prix, which he wants to believe as an “outlier”.
Sauber finished last on the grid at 19th and 20th position at Zandvoort circuit. The Finn driver along with his team-mate failed to score any points this season. Lando Norris, McLaren Formula 1 driver, won the race and lapped twice over the Sauber’s drivers.
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Despite failing to score any points, Sauber occasionally made mark midfield which it failed at Zandvoort. “I didn’t expect the performance to be this poor,” said Bottas.
“The start was actually OK and we were in a decent place compared to where we started from but after like five or six laps, I saw that I struggled to follow the pack.
“That’s when I knew that we didn’t quite have the pace. I was hoping that maybe with other tyre compounds things could be better, but it never did. We tried all the compounds, so it’s not the tyre, it’s the car. It just doesn’t work on this track.”
The Finn shared his opinion about the diversity and depth of the issue that Dutch venue exposed.
“We haven’t been this weak in any of the races this year, and it’s not like we made a step backwards.
“This track really highlighted the weaknesses of the car with the banked corners, with off cambers, cambers, plus the wind, it just highlighted the sensitivity of the car.”
“We’re really sensitive to crosswinds and tailwinds. When you’re going through bankings and off-cambers and cambers, it’s even worse because the ride heights, they are not in the right window.
“So, the whole car is just too peaky, too much on the edge, it’s not really a stable platform and anything that distracts it like crosswind, it just makes things a whole lot worse. “
Monza is a high-speed circuit that will put the Hinwil-based team in different waters to test its car. It will bring a new challenge this weekend before it can shift the focus to season-closing races.
Bottas answered a question about whether the team could find a solution before the season finale. He conceded: “It’s long term, I don’t think there’s a quick fix – but this track is quite unique and this kind of wind we rarely get.
“So I’m still optimistic that we can have better weekends and hoping that this was the outlier.”
