Valtteri Bottas admitted that Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber simply don’t have the performance to be competitive at the Red Bull Ring after qualifying down in eighteenth for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.
Sauber are yet to score a point, with Bottas having his worst start to a Formula 1 campaign. Despite that, the former Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has been driving well, being held back by a car that’s glued to the back of the grid.
After another disappointing performance in qualifying, Bottas told F1TV that the performance just isn’t there, and there still in a similar position to what they were after Sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon.
“It was difficult. I think we made the car a bit better in terms of the true lap balance so that’s going to help us tomorrow but still the pure performance is not there at this track. We are in the same position as we were after the Sprint quali, which is not nice to see but that’s how it is and we still have tomorrow and won’t give up.
“In the sprint, the big thing for us was tyre overheating – that was the biggest issue. We made some changes that should help us but we’ll figure that out tomorrow.”