Disaster at the Dutch GP<\/h4>\n
Valtteri Bottas<\/a> and Zhou Guanyu were essentially afterthoughts in Zandvoort last weekend.<\/p>\n They spent most of their time at the back, as Sauber were cemented as the slowest team on Dutch soil.<\/p>\n Alessandro Alunni Bravi, the Hinwil team’s representative, did not sugar-coat the situation:<\/p>\n “Today has potentially been the most difficult race of the season for us.<\/em><\/p>\n “Without any retirement in front of us, we finished at the bottom of the field in P19 and P20, being lapped twice \u2013 a hard picture of our current race pace.<\/em><\/p>\n “We obviously lack performance in race conditions, and we have also seen that we experience higher tyre degradation than our competitors. So, no matter the strategy, we can\u2019t change the result.<\/em><\/p>\n “We found ourselves in a very difficult situation, and we need to understand whether today\u2019s performance is more related to the track characteristics due to wind conditions and corner balance.”<\/i><\/p>\n Arguably the only positive for Sauber last weekend was in FP1. Robert Shwartzman<\/a> was competitive in the first session of the weekend, setting strong times in both wet and dry conditions.<\/p>\n As Audi considers their driver options for 2025, Shwartzman delivered a timely showing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/08\/2024-Dutch-Grand-Prix-Sunday-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Sauber accept they are in a transitional phase<\/h4>\n