2024 Dutch Grand Prix – Sunday

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a difficult Sunday afternoon at the Dutch Grand Prix. Despite a solid start, with Valtteri Bottas climbing up to 14th place, the team struggled to remain competitive in the remainder of the race, and Valtteri and team-mate, Zhou Guanyu, finished 19th and 20th respectively in a race with no retirements.

The team will return to action in next week’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “Today has potentially been the most difficult race of the season for us. Without any retirement in front of us, we finished at the bottom of the field in P19 and P20, being lapped twice – a hard picture of our current race pace. We obviously lack performance in race conditions, and we have also seen that we experience higher tyre degradation than our competitors. So, no matter the strategy, we can’t change the result. We found ourselves in a very difficult situation and we need to understand whether today’s performance is more related to the track characteristics, due to wind conditions and corner balance. We must have a strong reaction as we need to change the trajectory of this season as soon as possible – starting from Monza.”

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)

Race result: 19th

Fastest lap: 1:15.822 (Lap 45)

Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Soft) – Lap 15 (New Hard) – Lap 43 (New Medium)

“This has been arguably our weakest weekend of the season, and the race just confirmed this. We had a really good start and climbed to a decent position: everything was under control for the first few laps but we soon realised we couldn’t keep up with the cars ahead. That’s when reality struck, we were just not fast enough in the race and that’s where we ended up. I hoped things would improve with a different tyre compound, but we tried them all and they wouldn’t make a difference: I believe this unique circuit amplifies our weaknesses, as it highlights the sensitivity of our car: the bankings, the surface, the camber and the wind – they are all working against us here. I know we haven’t made a step back, this weekend gave us a lot of things to take in for the future and lots to learn. Most importantly, next week’s track in Monza is going to be very different: I have higher hopes going into the next race. As a team, we need to continue working hard and keep pushing not to lose confidence, as we still have many races ahead of us.”

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)

Race result: 20th

Fastest lap: 1:15.724 (Lap 67)

Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) – Lap 18 (New Hard) – Lap 51 (New Soft)

“This weekend has been tough for us, definitely not what we wanted coming back from the break. We were quite far off compared to our main rivals throughout the weekend as soon as the track turned dry, which is how we ran today’s race. In any case, it will be important for us to understand why we struggle so much on high fuel – as the changes we implemented didn’t quite work for us.

We had prepared for a difficult race today: I struggled with grip from the opening lap, and quickly found myself unable to keep up with the pack. Things should be better for us in Monza, on a different track layout which should also be less impacted by windy conditions. Our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions so far, and we must work on that for the remainder of the season”