F1 | Sauber: good tire management is a double-edged sword

After a good start in Bahrain, where in the race they were able to establish themselves as the sixth best team on the grid, albeit helped by Nico Hulkenberg's accident at the start, Sauber arrived in Saudi Arabia with some more confidence and apprehension.

On the one hand there was the sensation of having in my hands a very competitive car over long distances and, above all, very kind on the tyres, as was seen in the opening stage of the world championship, in which Guanyu Zhou was able to extend the final stint while keeping a large group of drivers behind. On the other hand, however, it was clear that something more was needed in qualifying, because on a circuit like Jeddah, a good starting position could really make the difference.

A doubt that was then confirmed on Friday evening, after official testing, which ended with a bitter double elimination already at the end of Q1. Valtteri Bottas' qualifying was affected by both traffic and the difficulties in starting the tyres, while everything was compromised by the accident in FP3, which had pushed the mechanics into a race against time to fix the the single-seater was damaged.

The conditions ahead of the race were, therefore, far from exceptional, especially bearing in mind that, on a track like Saudi Arabia, it would have been complicated to effectively make use of those good qualities in terms of tire management highlighted in Bahrain . The only hope would have been the entry of a Safety Car at the most propitious moment, like the one actually caused by Lance Stroll after a few laps of the race.

Zhou remained on the track in the hope of being able to exploit this opportunity, while Bottas, who had started on the soft at the beginning of the race, decided to stop to fit the hard set with which, at least on a theoretical level, he would have reached the to the checkered flag. But it is precisely these two different strategies that highlighted two different problems of Sauber's weekend.

After the accident in FP3, the mechanics found the Chinese driver's car overheating, with constant requests for lift and coast at the end of the straights, which negatively affected the pace. This element also explains why Hulkenberg, with a Haas that was still competitive compared to the other mid-pack teams, was able to make such a clear improvement during his stint.

Even more interesting, however, is Bottas' race, with a strategy designed aggressively from the start, which however highlighted some limitations of the Swiss single-seater. After having noticed the references during free practice, in which several teams had also tested the softer compound on long runs to study its behavior in view of possible use in the race, the Sauber engineers chose to start with that compound .

Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber C44, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The idea would have been to be very aggressive both at the start, perhaps trying to recover some positions by taking advantage of the greater grip offered by the soft, but also with the moment of the stop. However, it is interesting to mention that, generally, in Jeddah the undercut is not always so effective, because an asphalt that is so little abrasive and offers a lot of grip still guarantees the opportunity to try to extend over the long distance, while also keeping the times constant.

“We thought that the soft/hard compound would be the best for us, trying to be aggressive on the lap where we stopped,” Bottas said at the end of the race, however highlighting an even more important problem, namely the ignition of the hard.

As with other teams, Sauber also encountered problems in making the tires work as best as possible. Ferrari had problems with the rears, while Racing Bulls encountered difficulties in switching on the soft, more with Daniel Ricciardo than with Yuki Tsunoda, with the latter actually managing to access Q3 by taking a good ninth place.

However, the Swiss team suffered above all from switching on the hardest compound, the hard, taking about fifteen laps before managing to make it work as hoped. Clearly, given the race scenarios, Bottas would hardly have been able to score points, but this is an issue to keep in mind for the rest of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524, Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber C44

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“But in the end the problem was the hard compound. We couldn't get it to work, we couldn't create enough temperature, it took at least 15 laps to get any kind of grip. And at that point we lost too much. It was unexpected. That's why I made two stops. Eventually we tried the soft ones to see if they worked better, and they did. But obviously it was too late,” added the Finn.

On a track like Sakhir, a more “linear” introduction of the tire is preferable, given the particularly aggressive type of asphalt, which is why a linear and non-forced introduction helps to guarantee an advantage over the long distance. Jeddah is a particular track but, given that with the hard tire you can cover essentially the entire race distance, the issue of degradation is no longer so central, so being able to find good potential from the tires from the first laps becomes fundamental.

“Obviously it was the C2 compound. So I think for this track it's too hard. Because of the set-up problems on Friday, when I tested it, we thought it was [il motivo per cui non riuscivano a farla funzionare] mainly for this reason. But even now, with the improved setup, we couldn't make it work. I think our pace wasn't what we thought we had.”

“Today it was clear that [la dura] it didn't work, the soft compounds were definitely better. So I think our car can't generate much energy on the tires. I think this is why the race pace was quite good in Bahrain, because the asphalt is rough and you have to keep the tires cold. On asphalt like this we felt like we couldn't generate enough temperature,” Bottas added.