While there were battles galore at the front of the field, the US GP sprint race was a pretty boring affair for Valtteri Bottas. The #77 driver yet again failed to score points this season as he finished 20th after the 19-lap race. However, the final stages of the race upped the ante for Bottas but not in the way he would have wanted it to be.
After the session, all the drivers commenced their customary cool-down lap before pulling into the pits. But for Bottas, the rear brakes of his Sauber C44 caught fire and the team asked him to park the car without entering the pits.
The post-race report from Formula1.com read, “Bottas didn’t make it back to the pits at the end there, it looks like his rear brakes caught on fire and the team radioed to tell him to stop the car.”
Bottas‘ race was pretty uneventful with his medium tires not giving him much bite to move up the field. The Finnish driver was beaten by his teammate, Zhou Guanyu to the chequered flag — 54.5 seconds behind the race-winner, Max Verstappen.
However, Bottas has become used to having such races with his team not providing him with a car good enough to fight for points.
Bottas’ lean patch in F1
The entirety of the 2024 season has been a misery for the former Mercedes driver due to Sauber’s issues with their car. This has compounded into the fact that he does not have a race seat for 2025, if Sauber decides to hire someone else for the upcoming Audi project alongside Nico Hulkenberg.
️ “I think that question is more for Mattia [Binotto] to answer, rather than me.”
Questions on contracts is not something Bottas can answer at the moment but he did think he’d have a new one signed BEFORE arriving in Austin for the US GP… and he doesn’t. pic.twitter.com/bhAF8PyL0G
— The Race (@wearetherace) October 17, 2024
The Hinwil-based team is currently plumb last in the Constructors’ standings with zero points on the board. This little incident with the Finn’s car will also cast another blow to the team’s plans for the Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday.
Not only do they need to isolate the problem but Sauber needs to get the car back into the pits and ready to go before qualifying starts later today.
