Valtteri Bottas admits Sauber needed 'a wake-up call' in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a frustrating start to the 2024 Formula 1 season.
The Swiss outfit has twice been hit by expensive pitstop issues, with Bottas delayed in Bahrain and his team-mate Zhou Guanyu affected in Saudi Arabia. In addition the C44 is not putting enough energy into its tyres which has compromised one-lap performance in qualifying and also left Bottas struggling on the hard compound during the Jeddah race. 'I think it needs to be a wake-up call,” said Bottas when asked by Motorsport.com about the team’s disappointing start to the season.
'It was quite clear today that it just didn't work, the softer compounds were way better. So I think with our car it feels like it's difficult to generate a lot of energy to the tyres. “That's probably why the race pace was quite good in Bahrain, because the tarmac is rough, and you need to keep the tyres cool. On a tarmac like this it just felt like we couldn't generate enough temperature.
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