This team cannot afford another disastrous year: 'We want to win'
F1 News
It has been a year since Sauber scored a point in Formula 1. For now, it doesn't look like Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou's team will be picking up any points anytime soon, such is the gap with the teams ahead of them. Mattia Binotto, Sauber's new COO and CTO, argues that the Swiss team cannot afford another year like the current one ahead of the transition to Audi in 2026.
Binotto didn't have to think long about whether Sauber can afford another season languishing at the back of the grid. "Certainly not. We cannot afford it," said the Italian. "This is the team that has to become in the future, the winning team. And the only way to do that is starting moving up, progressing. We need to train our muscles for the future."
Binotto went on to list some reasons why success in the short term is necessary: "That's important for ourselves. That's important for the team. It's important for the brand. It's important for our partners. We cannot not somehow accept the current position. But that's a matter of fact where we are and we can not even hide behind the finger."
Binotto describes the situation as painful
Binotto stresses that no one within Sauber and Audi is happy with the current performance. "It's very painful. We need to improve because the solid foundations do not come [overnight]. It's a team that needs to make continuous progress every single day, step by step. So starting from as soon as possible," he added.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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13 October 2024
