Valtteri Bottas sends Sauber ‘honest’ challenge following Stake F1 Team rebrand

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Valtteri Bottas has challenged Sauber to achieve his ‘lofty’ objectives in 2024 as Stake F1 Team as the squad failed to achieve their targets whilst named Alfa Romeo last year.

The Hinwil, Switzerland-based squad will be Stake F1 Team in 2024 and 2025 after Sauber reached a new title sponsorship deal. Alfa Romeo named their operation from 2019 to 2023. But the Italian car manufacturer parted with Sauber with Audi taking over the outfit in 2026.

Last year also marked the second-worst year of Alfa Romeo and Sauber’s partnership as the team finished ninth in the constructors’ championship. Only in 2021, when they only scored 13 points, had they finished as low in the table. Bottas and Zhou Guanyu scored 16 last year.

Valtteri Bottas scored 10 of Sauber’s 16 points as Alfa Romeo in 2023

Only Haas – who have since parted with team principal Guenther Steiner – ended 2023 with fewer points than Alfa Romeo. The American-owned team recorded just 12 points with Nico Hulkenberg finishing the drivers’ standings in 16th place and Kevin Magnussen sealing 19th.

Bottas marginally pipped Hulkenberg for 15th place with 10 of Alfa Romeo’s 16 points ahead of the German’s nine points. Zhou scored six points to claim 18th place, finishing just behind Daniel Ricciardo due to the AlphaTauri driver’s P7 finish in Mexico for his only points all year.

Valtteri Bottas admits Stake F1 Team ‘need to fix’ Alfa Romeo failure ‘now’

Now, Bottas believes Sauber must improve in 2024 as the operation is rebranded as Stake F1 Team. It marks the Finn’s third season driving for the Swiss squad and he expects to enjoy an improved campaign. The 34-year-old was 10th for 2022 after taking 49 points that season.

“Going into [my] third season together with a team, the objectives need to be lofty,” Bottas said, via quotes by Motorsport Week. “My own expectations are high.

“We definitely need to make a good step and see good progress from last year; a season in which, in all honesty, we didn’t meet the targets that we set for ourselves. We need to fix that now – we need to step up our game and do better.”

Sauber started F1’s latest ground effect era strongly with Bottas scoring 46 of his 49 points in 2022 over the opening nine rounds of a 22-round year. He even finished fifth at the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP, plus sixth in Bahrain and Spain. But his best results in 2023 were eighth.

Bottas enjoyed eighth-place results at the Bahrain and Qatar GPs in 2023, plus P10 results in Canada and Italy. Zhou scored his points with P9 results in Australia, Spain and Qatar during 2023, as well. The 24-year-old also took six points as a rookie F1 driver with Sauber in 2022.