Valtteri Bottas rued another pit stop error from the Sauber Formula 1 team, which saw him “lose an opportunity” to score points in last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
Sauber has been dealing with pit stop issues for all three rounds of the season, something that Bottas blames on the machinery and materials used by the Swiss outfit
With Max Verstappen and both Mercedes cars failing to finish, Bottas was unable to capitalise as another slow stop compromised his race, dropping him to 14th place.
While the ex-Mercedes driver bemoaned the missed chance to score the first points for the Hinwil-based squad, he also praised positive improvements with the C44 car.
“I think that’s positive from this weekend, making it finally into Q2, and in the race, yeah, good fight with all the cars around,” Bottas reviewed.
Should have been in top 10today, especially considering that there was a bit of carbon bits here and there and the cars DNFing.
“Pace-wise, it seems like we’re a bit closer to Aston than we’ve seen previously.”
Nonetheless, the veteran driver urged his team to solve the major pit stop errors, as he admits it is vital Sauber makes the most of points-scoring opportunities in 2024.
“It’s not like points are easy to get this year, so I think we lost an opportunity there, but it just shows that obviously we haven’t 100% fixed the issue with the stops, and all I know is that we’re working on it, and we just need to find a fix as quickly as possible,” he added.
“It’s super important to take those opportunities.
“The main thing is now the pit stops. We need to get them right, otherwise, it doesn’t matter what you have in the car.”
Sauber is bringing another upgrade package ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, after a small update that came before the “isolated upgrade” introduced before this last event.
Bottas is hopeful about the team taking a bigger step with these new parts.
“This weekend we’ve been definitely feeling better compared to the first two events, and yeah, hopefully the upgrades work in Japan, and then we’ll see. It’s a long season ahead.”
Asked about the support from the Australian audience, which treats the Finn as their third local driver alongside Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo, Bottas said that he felt “amazing support” and admitted he was sad to leave right after the race, promising that he’ll “be back” into the country very soon.
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