Bottas: Sauber’s F1 pitstop issues may not be fixed until after China
The Sauber squad has arrived at Suzuka for this weekendās 2024 Japanese GP after pitstop issues blighted each of its showings in the opening three rounds of the new season.
The problem concerns wheelnuts getting crossthreaded during changes, which meant the team made adjustments to its procedures for the Melbourne round last time out.
But a reoccurrence of the problem at Bottasās first stop there meant it ran to nearly 30s and a successful second service for the Finn in Australia was then undermined by a wheelnut rolling across the pitlane and Sauber being fined ā¬5000.
Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi had said ahead of the Suzuka race that the team had been working āday and night back at base in Hinwil to resolve our pitstop issuesā, which Bottas explained meant āprogressā on āmodifications made to the procedure and some of the materials that we could [use]ā.
āSome measures have been taken, but itās not still 100% fixed unfortunately,ā he replied when asked by Motorsport.com if he was still expecting Sauber to face further pitstop issues at Suzuka.
āBut, again, the chance of having an issue should be lower. Basically, it is an issue that we didnāt know before the season that it would be an issue and itās not a quick fix.
āBut there is a 100% fix planned hopefully for China. Still not 100% sure. But here, extra measures have been taken on that.ā
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Bottas also said Sauber had āapologised, which is fairā for his delayed stop in Melbourne, which he felt cost a shot to score the teamās first points of 2024.
āBut weāre in this together,ā he added. āI was disappointed, but the whole team was disappointed because these things shouldnāt happen.
āSo, weāre definitely taking it seriously and it is a priority now to get that sorted.ā
As the pitstop issues are set to continue being a concern for Sauber for at least the short-term, Bottas reckons it would be a confidence booster for the team’s pit crew to have consistent services in Suzuka, even if that meant slower stops overall.
āFor sure, Iāll be hoping for a clean weekend,ā he explained.
āEven if we donāt need to have the fastest pitstops but can be consistent this weekend ā that would be important.
āBut I think it will also be important for the pit crew to have clean stops. For the confidence and everything.
āSo, letās hope for that, but hopefully I donāt need to think about it too much.ā
Bottas also outlined how the issue had arisen āonly really in Bahrainā across the test and race events there given Sauber was getting to grips with new pit equipment it has produced for 2024.
He also intriguingly revealed a theory that the issues might be related to temperature changes.
āEven in the test, it wasnāt a big concern,ā he explained. āBut in the test we started to see some issues.
āBut then Bahrain race itā¦ I think it has something to do with the temperature effect as well.ā
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Watch: F1 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Preview – Everything You Need To Know
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