Kick Sauber: The Struggle to Escape from Last

The Kick Sauber Formula 1 team, rebranded for the 2024 season, has faced significant challenges securing points. Several factors contribute to their struggles, ranging from technical issues and team dynamics to the competitive landscape of Formula 1. Here’s a detailed look at the key reasons behind their difficulties this season.

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas’ performance so far has been full of reliability issues, a car unable to match the Kick Sauber’s rivals to challenge for points and maintain the same composure as he is Chinese team-mate, Zhou Guanyu.

Best Finish: The 10-time Grand Prix winner’s best finish was at the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race, finishing 12th ahead of the two Alpine drivers, the Williams driver and Lace Stroll at the helm of an Aston Martin, which for a bottom team is considered a good result. Even though there was no option for a pit stop during the Chinese Sprint Race, it shows that without strategy but a race to the finish line, Bottas could attack at his discretion without the need to preserve or protect his tyres.

Worst Finish: The Finnish worst result so far came at the Bahrain Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag 19th and a lap down from the leading pack. But why? The 67 podium driver had his misfortunes when pitting for a set of Hard tyres, as the front left tyre could not be fitted on the Sauber C44, leaving Bottas stationary for 52 seconds. Having replaced the wheel nut, car number 77 was a lap down ahead of American driver Logan Sargeant.

Did Not Finish: What makes it worse for Valtteri and the Kick Sauber team is that reliability has become the team’s plague. An engine failure made Bottas retire on Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix on lap 21, causing the 1797-point scorer to park his car at the run-off area of Turn 11 and prompting the safety car.

But Kick Sauber had more potential on the other side of the garage on two occasions, coming close to achieving this with their young Chinese driver, Zhou Guanyu.

Zhou Guanyu

Best Finish: The 24-year-old became the best of the rest of the midfield, finishing 11th at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the top five teams, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Aston Martin, were in another dimension of speed, as Zhou could not do anything to mount an attack on 10th-place Lance Stroll. However, at the seasonal opener, the Chinese driver proved that he had the potential to score points, not only in Sakhir but also in his home country, China.

Like Valtteri Bottas, Zhou achieved an incredible 9th place at the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race, only six seconds behind the Mercedes driver George Russell, who scored one point and finished 8th. Within the realm of the Formula 1 Sprint weekend, with little practice, there is less time to develop the cars going into the Sprint Race, which makes the Sprint as equally important as the race on Sunday.

Worst Finish: The 12-point scoring driver, so far, has had his worst result around the tight and twisty track of Jeddah at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Crossing the line 18th, the Chinese driver finished last place due to Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly’s retirements. What makes it worse for the Sauber team is that both drivers, Bottas and Zhou, finished in the last two places and a lap down. As it was early doors in the season, the team has slowly improved but is demonstrating that it is difficult for car 24 to score the first-ever point that Kick Sauber craves to achieve.

Did Not Finish: While Zhou’s 34-year-old suffered a retirement at the Chinese Grand Prix, so did Guanyu, one race before at the Japanese Grand Prix. Retiring on Lap 12 due to a gearbox failure. Further emphasising that Kick Sauber does have reliability issues that need to be rectified, to solidify their chances to remain competitive for points.

Conclusion

As a result of a combination of technical challenges, issues with reliability, and the fiercely competitive nature of Formula 1, the Kick Sauber Formula 1 team has struggled to score points this season. To tackle these issues, a concerted effort needs to be made in all areas, ranging from the development of the car and its reliability to the strategy and the morale of the team. There have been a lot of challenges throughout the season so far. Despite this, there is still an opportunity for improvement as the team works to overcome these hurdles and move forward to achieve better results in the future.

But can the Kick Sauber team score points and fight with the likes of Williams, Haas and Alpine? With 16 races to go, there is time for Sauber to mount a charge to start scoring points.

If you would like to learn more news about the world of Formula 1? “Alex Albon: Two Crucial Points for Williams” or “Monaco Grand Prix: A Jewel in the Formula 1 Crown”

Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool