Valtteri Bottas Fails to Get His Car Back to Pits as Brakes Catch Fire After US GP Sprint

77 BOTTAS Valtteri (fin), Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber C44, action during the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024, 19th round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship, on the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin

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.

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.

Post Edited By: Aishwary Gaonkar
Sauber US GP Valtteri Bottas

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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