All-new Sauber F1 car concept for 2024 “looks interesting”

In its last season under the Alfa Romeo name, the Swiss outfit slumped from sixth to ninth in the world championship, scoring only 16 points.

Bottas says the team realised that it had reached the end of the line with its 2023 car and that an all-new approach was needed as a revised design team starts to gel under technical director James Key.

“I’m glad that it’s over now,” said the Finn of the past season. “And next year, everyone starts from zero again. There’s been many, many changes in the team lately. And I think positive changes.

“Also, the concept of next year’s car looks interesting. So in that sense, I do have hopes. But now we need to work hard for that and try again.

“The main thing is we need a new car. And it needs to be different. So that’s, I would say the biggest take we take from this year, clearly we’ve hit the end with this car’s development, we just haven’t been able to find any anything big. So the whole concept needs to be different. That’s what we’ve learned.

“From what I’ve seen, I’m happy, because there are differences. I think that’s what we need. So many question marks, it’s still early days. But at least we’re seeing progress, and the last few weeks have been actually quite productive at the factory.”

Bottas says that the Key’s input has been a major boost for Sauber.

“I feel like with some new people we have, including James, there starts to be stuff happening,” he said. 

“He has obviously got lots of knowledge even from this year’s McLaren, so for sure there’s good information coming from different people. So that is good to see. I think that’s what we needed.”

Reviewing the team’s disappointing season, Bottas noted that not finishing last in the constructors’ championship was at least one positive.

“I think the races that we had the pace for the points, I think we managed to get them,” he said. 

“So ultimately the issue was we didn’t have the pure pace this year to be in the top 10. We didn’t have a quick enough car. So that’s the name of the game.

“It’s not the last place, which is good, but it’s a small step, but still not as good as last year. I mean, it was a difficult year. We were hoping to finish better. But that’s what it is now. And now we need work for the future.

“We tried everything we could, but it was a difficult year. So lots to learn from, and now we need to…