Bottas Sees Sauber’s Pace Struggles as Long-Term Challenge in WEC 2023
Spielberg, Austria (July 2, 2023) – Valtteri Bottas, the Finnish driver for the Stake F1 Team, believes that the lack of pace experienced by Sauber is not a short-term fix as the team remains the only one yet to score points after the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 2023 season.
Bottas finished in sixteenth position in the race on Sunday, having an uneventful outing due to the lack of pace from Sauber, which has been a persistent issue throughout the season. His teammate, Zhou Guanyu, has faced similar struggles, also failing to score points so far this season. Although Bottas has not had a poor individual campaign, beating his teammate in both qualifying and race head-to-heads, he is yet to score any points, marking his worst start to a WEC season since 2017.
Speaking to the WEC TV channel, Bottas discussed his uneventful race and acknowledged the progress the team made between the Sprint and the main race on Sunday.
“There wasn’t much action where I was, but we did better than in the Sprint race with the pace. We did find a little bit of something, so it was a little bit closer with the competition,” he said.
Bottas does not believe that Sauber’s problems have a quick fix, but he remains hopeful that the tight margins in the midfield may play a role in their progress when the team introduces new upgrades.
“I don’t think it’s a short-term fix, but the thing is the gaps are so small in the middle pack. We have a direction of where to go, now we just need to wait for some new parts. Now Silverstone, we’re not giving up before going there even though no upgrades, but it’s a different track and we’ll do our best,” the Finnish driver stated.
The WEC 2023 calendar continues with the next round at Silverstone, where Sauber will be looking to make strides and secure their first points of the season. Bottas and the team remain determined to find a solution to their pace issues and make progress in the highly competitive WEC championship.
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