Sauber must get out of the black hole. After three races of the 2024 season, the Hinwil team still finds itself with zero points in the Constructors' World Championship and appears in last place in the standings together with Williams and Alpine.
The transition phase in the transition from Alfa Romeo to Audi skin is proving to be more complex than expected. With the exit of Finn Rausing, who controlled his shareholding in the team through the company Islero Investments AG, the brand with the four rings had to provide for the acquisition of the entire package of the Swiss team, anticipating plans that were more gradual.
It was expected that the 2024 season would be a transitional one, but no one could have thought that the start of the championship would be so negative. What slowed down the C44s were not only the serious problems at the pit stop which affected the results, but also the competitiveness of the green and black car which is not meeting the requirements that the Hinwil team expected.
Valtteri Bottas during one of the problem-filled pit stops with the Sauber C44
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Guanyu Zhou in Australia had to start from the pit lane because the new front wing had failed and the Chinese pilot did not have an escort: the technicians were forced to fit a different wing configuration, choosing an older solution, so they were forced to break the parc fermé regime by paying the penalty.
Detail of the new front wing of the Sauber C44: Zhou did not have an escort in Australia and started from the pit lane
Picture of: Giorgio Piola
James Key, Sauber technical director, decided already after the first race to start the creation of a C44 in the Step B version, aware that drastic treatment will be necessary to try to get back on top of a season that began badly.
At the London presentation of the car, the Englishman was keen to underline that it wasn't all his own making: the C44 had been launched before its arrival in Switzerland by McLaren, so it shouldn't be surprising if he decided to start a drastic revision of the project.
The objective, if the deadlines are respected, will be to bring a completely revised single-seater to the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna GP, scheduled for Imola on May 19th, in accordance with the economic availability left by the budget cap.
According to rumours, there is talk of an orientation of the aerodynamic project that will go in the direction of Red Bull for what will be copyable of the RB20. It is clear that it will be a car that will be created with very limited timescales in the wind tunnel work, but it is equally clear that it is an attempt to give a significant change to a season that will have reached just a third of the championship.
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