Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber announced on Wednesday that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu won’t be returning to the team after three seasons with the Swiss team. F1’s worst-performing team is desperately attempting to right a sinking ship before becoming Audi’s factory team in 2026.
Sauber is sweeping the decks for veteran Nico Hülkenberg and incoming rookie Gabriel Bortoleto in the hopes that they will provide more experience and on-track ability than its previous duo. Bottas and Zhou are currently 23rd and 21st in a 20-car championship respectively, due to point-scoring performances by three stand-in drivers at other teams.
The Swiss team has been on a steady decline over the past three years. Sauber scored 55 points in 2022, 16 points in 2023 and zero points this season so far. There’s still a chance that the team could nab a point or two during the last few races. While all the parties involved released statements sending out thanks and well-wishes, Bottas’ opening two sentences were illustrative of the situation at hand. The 35-year-old Finnish driver said:
“A situation like this is never easy for anyone. But after all the good and in-depth discussions we had in the past weeks, we realized that the conditions to grow this project together were not met.”
Will the new drivers be any better? Only time will tell. Hülkenberg, currently at Haas, has 11 full seasons of experience under his belt. The 37-year-old German was in consideration for front-line seats at Ferrari and Mercedes earlier in his career but missed out every time. Based on his junior record, Bortoleto is the best driver available as the current Formula 2 points leader and the 2023 F3 champion. However, the 20-year-old Brazilian wasn’t the top pick. His name was behind young phenoms Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman on the list.
Amid its struggles to sell cars, Audi needs something to get excited about ahead of its F1 debut. A new driver pairing is an immediate way to feel like the automaker is making a splash despite it not having an impact on the car’s abhorrent performance.