At the bottom of the rankings
The Dutch Grand Prix confirmed the difficulties of the uninterrupted Sauber during this championship, which actually seem to be getting even more serious. The confirmation came in the Zandvoort race, with the two drivers of the Swiss team who occupied the last two positions in the standings. While Valtteri Bottas finished in 19th place, Zhou Guanyu finished right behind the Finn, thus completing the finishing order two laps behind Lando Norris, exactly like Bottas.
The lowest point
Bottas, who during the summer break also seemed distant from a future at Sauber (the team set to pass under Audi control from 2026), was quite clear about the team’s overall performance over the Zandvoort weekend: “This was probably our weakest weekend of the season and the race confirmed it – he admitted – we had a great start and got into a good position: everything was under control in the first laps, but we soon realised that we couldn’t keep up with the cars ahead of us. At that point we realised that we weren’t fast enough in the race and we ended up there. I was hoping that things would improve with a different tyre compound, but we tried everything and it didn’t make a difference: I think this unique circuit amplifies our weaknesses, as it highlights the sensitivity of our car: the banks, the surface, the camber and the wind – they all work against us here. I know we haven’t taken a step back, this weekend has given us a lot of ideas for the future and a lot of things to learn. The most important thing is that the Monza track will be very different: I have more hope for the next race. As a team, we need to keep working hard and pushing to not lose confidence, because we still have a lot of races ahead of us.”
No effect of the news
Monza has almost always seen Bottas put in excellent performances, with four podiums in total and top-three finishes that he almost missed even in his first years at Williams, but it is very unlikely that he will finish in the top-10 in this year’s edition, just like his teammate. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber is the only team still stuck at zero points): “This weekend was difficult for us, definitely not what we wanted coming back from the break. – added the Chinese pilot – as soon as the track dried, we stayed away from our main rivals all weekendand so we ran the race. In any case, it will be important for us to understand why we struggle so much with high fuel, since the changes we implemented didn’t work. We were prepared for a difficult race. I had grip issues from the first lap and couldn’t keep up with the group. Things should be better in Monza, on a different track that should be less affected by wind conditions. So far our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions, and we need to work on that for the rest of the season.”
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