2024 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix Highlights

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a problematic Sunday afternoon at the 2024 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix. Despite a solid start, with Valtteri Bottas climbing up to 14th place, the team struggled to remain competitive in the remainder of the race, and Valtteri and their team-mate Zhou Guanyu, finished 19th and 20th, respectively, in a race with no retirements.

The team will return to action in the next week’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Valtteri Bottas

This has been arguably our weakest weekend of the season, and the race just confirmed this. We had a good start and climbed to a decent position: everything was under control for the first few laps, but we soon realised we couldn’t keep up with the cars ahead. That’s when reality struck; we were just not fast enough in the race, and that’s where we ended up. I hoped things would improve with a different tyre compound, but we tried them all, and they wouldn’t make a difference. I believe this unique circuit amplifies our weaknesses, as it highlights the sensitivity of our car: the bankings, the surface, the camber and the wind – they are all working against us here. I know we haven’t taken a step back. This weekend gave us a lot of things to take in for the future and lots to learn. Most importantly, next week’s track in Monza will be very different: I have higher hopes for the next race. As a team, we must continue working hard and keep pushing to not lose confidence, as we still have many races ahead of us.

Zhou Guanyu

This weekend has been challenging for us, and it’s not what we wanted coming back from the break. We were pretty far off compared to our main rivals throughout the weekend when the track turned dry, which is how we ran today’s race. In any case, it will be vital for us to understand why we struggle so much on high fuel – as the changes we implemented didn’t quite work for us. We had prepared for a difficult race today: I struggled with grip from the opening lap and quickly found myself unable to keep up with the pack. On a different track layout, things should be better for us in Monza, in which windy conditions should have less impact. Our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions, and we must work on that for the remainder of the season.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

Today’s recognition goes to our pit crew, who achieved a remarkable 1.9-second pit stop with Valtteri on lap 36. This is a significant achievement for the team, especially after the issues we faced at the start of the season: it shows that we are now together with top teams for pit stop times. Having recovered from this challenging situation, we now need to focus on closing the gap in car performance through everyone’s effort, both trackside and back in Hinwil. For Zhou, the race was cut short early on: an issue on lap three, which we tried to fix remotely, ultimately forced us to retire the car on lap six. We’ll need to investigate what seems to be an electrical issue; this is very unfortunate as he had a strong start and was pleased with the car balance, which could have been a positive race for him. With Valtteri, we fought in the midfield for most of the race; starting on medium tyres, we extended the stint on hards to attempt a one-stop strategy, similar to Alonso and Stroll. However, the pace was insufficient to protect us against Stroll, Ricciardo and Ocon, so we pitted for a final stint on new mediums, pushing to close the gap to the Alpines, Williams, and Astons. Despite initial good laps in which the gap was shrinking, Valtteri struggled with the rear tyre overheating, preventing him from getting closer to the cars ahead.

Nevertheless, he had a strong race with overtakes on Hulkenberg and Tsunoda. This weekend, we’ve shown progress in qualifying and the race with Valtteri’s upgraded car, but it’s still not enough to fight for points. As we head into the summer break, drivers and the team must recharge and return to Zandvoort with strong determination. The trajectory of our recent developments has been positive, and with another step forward, we can compete for points. This is our target and firm intention for the second part of the season.

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