The 2023 F1 season was a disappointment, not only for Valtteri Bottas but also for Alfa Romeo, which will continue as the Sauber F1 team next season. However, things should go better next season and they are thinking ‘out of the box’ when developing the new F1 car.
The Alfa Romeo F1 team achieved only sixteen points last season and therefore finished the season ninth in the constructors’ championship, three places lower than last year. It was the last season under the name ‘Alfa Romeo’ and the ‘Sauber F1 team’ is now working hard on a car for next year.
2024 and 2025 will be two transition years for Sauber before it is renamed the Audi F1 team in 2026. Valtteri Bottas also realizes that things will have to be better next year, although a good result sometimes depends on small details.
“There are very small margins in this sport, that’s all,” said Bottas. “There is no fundamental problem.”
“The good thing is that we will have a completely new car with new ideas, new people in the team, that is exactly what we need now, so we will make big steps forward during the winter, that is the key to success. ”
According to Bottas, the disappointing performance in 2023 was due to the lack of very major upgrades and developments.
“We have been putting upgrades on the car fairly consistently throughout the year, just like other teams, but some were significant, others less so and some upgrades we found did not save any time.”
“It was a fairly steady process, but that is not enough. In the meantime, the other teams found big steps forward, new concepts, innovative things. Some copied others, but we did it simply. That is not enough in this sport.”
“In the end, the biggest deciding factor was the way the car was born. It was clearly better than last year’s car, but it wasn’t a big enough improvement. That’s just how it goes, there wasn’t one specific thing that was missing.”
“But I am very happy that we are now trying to think ‘outside the box’, with all the new people we now have in our team and who are also joining us.”
Sauber’s new F1 car is being developed under the leadership of technical director James Key, who came over from the McLaren F1 team.