Zurich-based Formula 1 team Sauber can look back on a complicated season. Nevertheless, there are positive signs.
09.12.2024, 05:00
SDA
Admittedly, the expectations for the first of two seasons until Audi joins the team in 2026 were modest. The aim was to halt the downward trend. The Sauber team has been a long way from achieving this in recent months. What's more, after finishing 6th (2022) and 9th (2023) among ten racing teams, the team plummeted to the bottom of the rankings.
As aggressive as the neon green cars looked visually, the performances of the C44 were pale on most of the 24 race weekends. It started with the pit stop problems at the beginning of the season and culminated at the end of August in the Dutch Grand Prix with the worst possible result: Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished 19th and 20th out of 20 starters in Zandvoort. And world championship points were a long way off.
Horror scenario averted
A leap in performance was only noticeable towards the end of the season. The new underbody, which was used for the first time two weeks ago in Las Vegas, brought the drivers back within touching distance of the points and ultimately enabled the team to avert its greatest sporting disgrace.
Zhou's 8th place in Qatar a week ago brought the team its redeeming first world championship points and prevented the 2024 season from going down as the worst Formula 1 year in the history of the Hinwil-based racing team. The relief was huge, as was the joy at the news that the Qatar sovereign wealth fund would be acquiring around a third of the shares in the future Audi works team.
Such investments from the Gulf region are nothing new in Formula 1. Team world champion McLaren has been fully controlled by Bahrain since this year, while the Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco has a finger in the pie at Aston Martin.
In the case of Sauber, there is talk of 250 to 350 million francs being invested by the Qataris. This is money that the team could well use for modernizing its infrastructure and recruiting additional staff.
A breath of fresh air with new staff
As far as the employees are concerned, it has rarely been quiet in Hinwil in recent months. For example, CEO Andreas Seidl, who was supposed to be in charge of Audi's Formula 1 entry, had to leave in July after just one and a half years. With former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto as his successor, Sauber has pulled off a surprise. And with Jonathan Wheatley, the long-standing sports director of Red Bull, another highly respected expert will take over as team principal from mid-2025.
These are positive signals, signs of a new beginning. It is also fitting that the contracts with the driver duo have not been extended. Valtteri Bottas (after the first season without points in his career) and Zhou Guanyu have to leave the team after three years. It is unclear whether they will find a new home in Formula 1.
The Finn and the Chinese driver will be replaced by Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. At 37, Hülkenberg, like Bottas, is taking on the role of the experienced driver, while Bortoleto is taking his first steps in Formula 1 with the Sauber team, as Zhou did back then. The 20-year-old Brazilian is a current Formula 2 champion and is seen as a promise for the future. What he has in common with Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc is that they all managed to win the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships within the space of a year.
A lot of work, higher expectations
The next chapter for the Hülkenberg/Bortoleto duo begins on Tuesday. The German and the South American will then complete the first practice runs with their new team in Abu Dhabi and familiarize themselves with the Sauber crew.
The official tests before the start of the season on March 16 in Australia will take place at the end of February in Bahrain. Until then, there is still a lot of work to be done to drive forward the sporting upswing so that the designated Audi works team can meet the higher expectations that will inevitably be set by the entry of the brand with the four rings.
