Why Sauber representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi expects new Formula 1 successes despite the ongoing pit stop problems and zero points so far
After three races in the 2024 Formula 1 season, Sauber still has no points. However, team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi does not expect this to be the case for much longer. That’s because his racing team is fast enough with the Sauber C44 to be eligible for points in the world championship
“We would be more worried if we didn’t have the pace”, “But: We have the pace. The race in Australia confirmed that. That’s why we have to look ahead with confidence.”
Sauber with Valtteri Bottas had actually sniffed the points at the Grand Prix in Melbourne: Up until the first pit stops, the Finn had moved up from twelfth on the grid to P10, just behind Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
But then everything went wrong for Sauber: again the pit stop didn’t work, again important seconds were lost. And in the end, Bottas could only manage P14 ahead of Sauber team-mate Guanyu Zhou
Sauber sees “the positive” and hopes
But Alunni Bravi is not deterred by this and says: “As soon as we have fixed the pit stop problem, and we want to fix it as quickly as possible, we will get more chances to score points. Because that’s the level our car has shown now. We can be in a position to finish in the points in every race.”
That is “the positive thing” that Sauber is taking away from Australia, emphasizes Alunni Bravi. He was also pleased to note that the new front wing on the C44 had worked. “We improved with it both in qualifying and in the race,” he explains. “The balance in the car is good.”
And Sauber wants to add further technical optimizations soon: the “third upgrade” of the year will follow as early as the fourth race of the 2024 season in Japan. However, Alunni Bravi did not say exactly what this would involve.
Bottas, on the other hand, had already made it clear after the most recent race in Australia what really matters at Sauber: “The pit stops are the main thing. We have to get them right. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what the car can do. “