Sauber upgraded their pitstop equipment this year, but they had problems with the wheel nuts since the first race in Bahrain. This caused issues during pit stops in the first few races.
They tried to fix the problems by making changes and adjustments in Bahrain. But their pitstops are still slower than other teams.
This has been a big problem because the competition in the middle of the race is very tight. Sauber’s drivers, Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have not earned any points yet. Meanwhile, other teams like RB and Haas have already scored points.
Before the Chinese Grand Prix, Bottas said they were making more changes to their equipment. But they still haven’t found a permanent solution.
“It’s a tough situation. We shouldn’t be in this position, but we are. Now, we need to fix it,” Bottas said. “We have more changes for this weekend, but it’s not completely fixed yet. So, we know it’s still a weakness for us. But we’re trying. Let’s hope everything goes well this time.”
When asked when they expect to find a permanent solution, Bottas said, “By Imola.”
Their weakness was clear in the Japanese Grand Prix. During a pitstop, Bottas lost positions to other cars. He came into the pits in second place but came out in fourth.
Bottas said they have been improving, and they have been bringing updates to the car. In the last two races, they had a similar pace to RB and Tsunoda.
But the pitstop issues have been affecting their race results. Bottas believes they haven’t reached their full potential yet.
“We need to be careful during pitstops because we might lose positions to our competitors,” Bottas said. “We hope to fix this problem soon and perform better in the next races.”
