In the last year of his existing contract with Sauber, Valtteri Bottas‘ misfortunate on the track keeps piling up. His DNF in China was the latest nail in the coffin but other issues – pit stop errors in particular – have affected the Finn’s performances on several occasions this season.
At the Shanghai International Circuit, a dejected Bottas returned to the pit lane after his car’s engine gave out. On the way to Sauber’s garage, Bottas was glancing at the Red Bull crew as they pulled off a double stack flawlessly.
It took the Red Bull pit crew 1.9 seconds to change Verstappen’s tire and 2.0 to change Perez’s. Working like a well-oiled machine, Red Bull’s incredible pit crew has contributed immensely to their success over the last two years. Bottas was looking at the Red Bull double stack, possibly envious as to what his season could have been had Sauber been better on that front.
Bottas’ team is nowhere near the front but the 34-year-old has been close to scoring points at some races this campaign. Unfortunately, the aforementioned mistakes took those away from him.
Red Bull had pulled off another double stack on lap 13 prior to the one Bottas witnessed. It was perfect too, with Verstappen stopping for 2.1 and Perez for 2.0 seconds respectively. With this, Red Bull has the fastest stops of the 2024 season so far whereas Bottas’ team Sauber remains on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Pit-stops ruined Valtteri Bottas and Sauber’s season
For Sauber, the Chinese GP like all their other races so far in 2024, was lackluster. To add to its woes, reliability issues with Bottas’ engine kicked in and the team lost out on a chance to score its first point of the season.
Hometown hero Zhou Guanyu too, was motivated to make the best of his race but Sauber’s pit-stop struggles limited his charge too. His first stop took 5.3 seconds followed by a slightly better 3.2.
In F1, every second lost counts. They all add up, costing valuable points for a driver or their team. Keeping this in mind, teams invest heavily in making sure its pit-stops are top notch. Over the years, the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes worked hard to improve the standard of their pit-crew. Today, they make mistakes very rarely.
Meanwhile, Bottas had to go through a 30-second pit-stop in Japan earlier this month. To get out of the slump it finds itself in, Sauber too, needs to make amends and improve the quality of their pit-stops.
