Sauber's 'draining' season with the team in ‘survival mode’

The 2024 F1 season won’t live long in the memory of those associated with Kick Sauber. They may have at least avoided the ignominy of looking back on a pointless campaign – the team have Zhou Guanyu’s points in Qatar to thank for that – but there’s no getting past how difficult the year has been for the Hinwil outfit. However, with Audi’s arrival another year closer and key personnel in place, things might be looking up soon. Here is the team’s end of year report…

Best finish

Zhou Guanyu – 8th in Qatar

“Relief” was the word Zhou kept repeating after bagging four valuable points in the penultimate Grand Prix of the year – and you sensed the whole team was feeling it after what the Chinese driver described as a "draining" season.

At last, they had shaken off the tag no constructor wants to have of going a whole season without scoring a point.

Zhou was also voted Driver of the Day to boot in Qatar, an incredibly deserving prize given the effort it took to keep his car in P8 that day.

The result will also have been a much-needed confidence boost for the 25-year-old as he tries to find a way back onto the Formula 1 grid one day in the future, with Sauber opting to go for an all-new line-up in 2025.

2024 Qatar Grand Prix: Zhou crosses the line to seal Sauber’s first points of 2024

Qualifying head-to-head

Bottas 21-3 Zhou

Valtteri Bottas’ prowess over one lap has been apparent in Formula 1 for many a year, and his stats compared to his team mate show he comfortably had the edge here in 2024.

You only have to look at the final weekend of the year in Abu Dhabi, as Bottas managed to haul his car into Q3 and a P9 qualifying spot, for an example of what could be done when the car actually had some performance to give.

But far too often the Finn has had to make do at the back of the grid, battling it out with his team mate for places no one wants to be battling for. It's little wonder Bottas has called 2024 his “most difficult” season in F1.

POWER RANKINGS: Who ended the season on a high note during the finale in Abu Dhabi?

Race head-to-head

Bottas 14-10 Zhou

Of course, race day results are what matters most in Formula 1 and here Bottas and Zhou are far more easily matched.

But, again, too often the duo were fighting for places way down the order – a problem that was particularly exacerbated at the start of the year when the team were blighted by pit stop issues.

Once Sauber got their pit stops ironed out, the performance just wasn’t there and in truth the squad didn’t look like finishing in a points-paying position until that crucial weekend in Qatar, where Bottas himself just missed out on scoring with a P11 finish.

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 01: Zhou Guanyu of China and Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber and Valtteri — Both Zhou and Bottas have endured challenging years in their final campaign with Sauber

Best moment

It has to be Qatar again, with Zhou bagging those all important four points to give Sauber something to show this year. It’s also a true testament to the perseverance of all those working at the team as well, to keep showing up and working flat out for a reward.

“For everyone, there’s a lot of work that people don’t see behind the scenes – just continue to be there every weekend hoping something will be returned, and today’s the day,” Zhou rightly acknowledged after that race.

For the romantic you can also look back at the Chinese Grand Prix this year as Zhou became the first F1 driver to race in front of a home crowd in Shanghai. While he just missed out on points in the Sprint, finishing P9, and crossed the line P14 in the Grand Prix, his reaction to the home reception was one of the feel-good moments of the campaign.

VOTE: Choose your favourite race of the 2024 season

Worst moment

While the performance of the Sauber car has obviously been a huge disappointment, you can’t really look past those aforementioned pit stop issues from the start of the year that wrecked any hope the team had in those early races.

It’s scarcely believable in this cutting-edge world of F1 that Bottas’ trip to the pits back in Bahrain was a whopping 52-seconds long, which dropped him down the order to P19, thanks to a cross-threaded wheel nut. Similar issues happened in Saudi Arabia and Australia too before the team finally got on top of the problem.

2024 Bahrain Grand Prix: Bottas’ race ruined after 52 second pit stop drama

Going forward

It’s hard to avoid the feeling that Sauber are effectively in a holding pattern until they become Audi’s works outfit in 2026. That said, they really need to show some signs of progress ahead of the German manufacturer’s arrival.

Much of the news around the team has been dominated by personnel changes with former Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto joining in August as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer, following on from the exits of CEO Andreas Seidl and Audi executive Oliver Hoffmann, while Jonathan Wheatley will become Team Principal of the Audi F1 outfit.

Binotto’s influence has been clear since he arrived, including in the brand new driver line-up the team will be fielding in 2025. While the experienced hands of Nico Hulkenberg had already been signed before the Italian’s arrival, the addition of F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto alongside the German is very much Binotto’s choosing.

2025 F1 GRID: All the driver and team line-ups confirmed so far

Getting those two drivers up to speed and embedded within the team as quickly as possible will be vital next year, but so will instilling a winning mentality. Binotto admitted as much in the press conference on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend saying: “I think that team in the last years and decade has been there surviving, in a survival mode.

“So, at the end, it was about surviving, participating, trying to get the best out of it. But a winning mentality, a winning mindset, it's a different approach. So, there is certainly a lot that needs to be done in terms of culture, in terms of behaviours.”

No doubt the future Audi F1 project promises to be a truly exciting one – but the work in 2025 could be crucial in deciding where on the grid the team will be battling for places.