Valtteri Bottas has insisted Sauber’s struggles in Formula 1 aren’t “rocket science” as he revealed the team has updates coming soon to resolve its high-speed issues.
Bottas’ arrival at the Hinwil-based squad in 2022 coincided with the team nailing the all-new technical regulations to amass 51 points across the opening nine rounds.
However, Sauber’s advantage had derived from hitting the minimum weight limit earlier than its rivals and a pitiful four points followed once that edge was eradicated.
Sauber’s regression since then has continued as it slumped to ninth in the standings as Alfa Romeo last term and is the sole team still to score in the current season.
Bottas is adamant that Sauber has improved under the current ground effect ruleset, but he’s conceded the advances relative to the competition haven’t been enough.
Asked to explain the reasons behind Sauber being unable to maintain pace with the rivals, Bottas replied: “It is not rocket science. We haven’t taken big enough steps.
“We’ve made steps each year, it’s not like the car has gotten worse.
“But other teams, including McLaren, which is a great example, they’ve been able to find big steps and we actually started this era ahead of them.
“So we need to find bigger gains. That’s, ultimately, the biggest issue, but also the team has been transforming to a new era in terms of the new ownership.
“There has been changes in the leadership, technical people.
“So, in some of those things are you’ve got to take steps backwards to make sure you then move forward. Sometimes it might take that bit of extra time.”
Sauber opted to revamp its car concept this term under Technical Director James Key’s guidance, but the C45 has been blighted with a weakness in high-speed turns.
Bottas, though, is convinced the Swiss-based outfit has a package that can be competitive versus other teams in the midfield once it addresses its main shortcoming.
“We’ve seen that with this car now, with the parts we have, high-speed cornering is a limitation and the consistency of the load we have in high-speed is an issue,” he said.
“And we’re trying to address that. But it’s pretty clear now that, actually, in some of the low and medium-speed corners, we are matching our competition.
“But the trend still seems to be in higher speed, which is lacking level of load.
“At least we know that’s an area that we can find the improvements now, and we’re working on that.”
The Finn has professed that it took Sauber a considerable time to diagnose where it was lacking competitiveness, but upgrades are in the works to address its woes.
“It’s taken a while to understand, obviously, there’s been many different kinds of tracks,” he added.
“And yes, in some of them we’ve been up there, like in China, a little bit better in Barcelona. But then we keep having this setbacks, but now we see the clear trend.
“I think the main thing is now that we got a direction, we have some updates in the pipeline, hopefully before summer break.”
Bottas, who won 10 races driving championship-winning Mercedes cars, has admitted that the rigid nature of the current machines has accentuated Sauber’s troubles.
“It’s definitely not the easiest car I’ve been driving,” he proclaimed.
“Already this generation of cars is quite stiff and not easy on bumps and curves. But this one was quite sensitive.
“Some of it is because, to maximise high-speed performance with the current car, we obviously need to compromise the stiffness and low-speed curving stuff.
“So, I think we, set-up-wise, we’ve understood how we can make the most out of it in terms of performance, but then it’s definitely not easy to drive.”
