Valtteri Bottas ‘surprised’ by one big thing he saw from Sauber at F1 testing

Follow us on Google Discover

Valtteri Bottas admits Sauber ‘surprised’ him during pre-season testing in Bahrain as the Formula 1 team seems to have fixed a long-standing issue with their car in 2024.

It is Bottas’ third season with the Hinwil, Switzerland-based squad as Sauber transition from a title sponsorship with Alfa Romeo to Stake F1 Team. The new name is not the only change, though, as the 34-year-old feels the C44 marks a significant improvement to last year’s C43.

The C43 was only good enough for Bottas and teammate Zhou Guanyu to secure Sauber P9 in the constructors’ championship. It took the Swiss squad to 16 points – marginally leaving Haas on 12 points in last place. Bottas scored 10 points in Sauber’s final year as Alfa Romeo.

Sauber’s 2024 car ‘surprised’ Valtteri Bottas in pre-season testing

Bottas further only finished in the points during four of the 22 Grand Prix in 2022 after nine top-10 results after joining from Mercedes in 2021. The Finn also did not score a point over the six Sprint events. Zhou scored points in three Grand Prix last year, and also zero Sprints.

Sauber started the year with promise last season as Bottas took P8 at the Bahrain GP before Zhou claimed P9 in the Australian GP. But Bottas took points again in the Canadian GP (P10), Italian GP (P10) and Qatar GP (P8). Zhou scored in the Spanish GP (P9) and Qatar GP (P9).

Zhou set Sauber’s fastest lap time on day three of the Bahrain test

But one persistent theme to emerge from Bottas’ first two seasons with Sauber was that the C42 and C43 struggled for stability in the fast corners. Yet the Finn was happily ‘surprised’ to see the C44 perform well through the quick bends in Formula 1’s pre-season Bahrain test.

“What surprised me most was the stability in the fast corners,” Bottas told Blick. “We’ve had problems in this relationship for two years now.

“In addition, the air resistance has decreased. We’ve gotten better there, too… Everything immediately feels good in the cockpit. There is nothing fundamentally bad about the car.”

Lap times during pre-season testing seldom show much relevance. But Bottas will head into the Bahrain GP on March 2 with some optimism for Sauber’s start to the new season. Zhou also set their fastest time on day three of testing with his 1:30.647 using the C4 Pirelli tyres.