The Swiss team encountered setbacks twice due to costly pitstop issues, affecting Valtteri Bottas in Bahrain and his teammate Zhou Guanyu in Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, the C44 car struggles to optimize tire energy, hampering its qualifying one-lap performance and causing Bottas to struggle with hard compounds during the Jeddah race.
Valtteri Bottas expressed concern, labeling the situation a wake-up call for the team. Despite the early stage of the season, he emphasized the need for improvement in pace and operational efficiency, especially after both drivers faced significant pitstop problems in two consecutive races.
Bottas, alongside Oliver Bearman, opted for a soft compound start in Jeddah. However, the decision backfired as he faced tire struggles after switching to hard tires during the safety car period, ultimately finishing 17th after an additional unplanned stop.
Explaining the strategy, Bottas mentioned that they anticipated soft/hard to be the optimal approach but faced challenges with the hard compound, struggling to generate enough temperature for grip, which compromised their performance significantly.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, representing the team, acknowledged the positives amidst the challenges faced in Jeddah. He highlighted Zhou’s consistency on mediums and Bottas’s competitive lap times in the later part of the race.
However, both drivers encountered issues, including Zhou’s FP3 crash affecting his qualifying and race performance, and Bottas struggling with tire temperature.
Despite the setbacks, Bravi expressed confidence in the team’s potential, aiming for a trouble-free race in Melbourne to materialize their performance and secure a further step forward.
