Bottas 'Seeing Progress' In Stake F1 Team: 'Things Are Starting To Fall Into Place'

Thursday, 04 January 2024 at 20:00

Updated at Saturday, 06 January 2024 at 18:32

Stake / Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas stated he is seeing progress in his team and expects the 2024 season to be interesting.

Alfa Romeo (now Stake F1 team) finished the 2023 season in ninth place in the Constructor's Championship and equaled its worst result from 2021.

On the other hand, Stake's technical director, James Key, recently mentioned that 2023 is immensely close and that he believed his team could go forward in 2024.

It is always a matter of comparison in F1. Stake could make great progress during the winter break, but if other teams made even bigger progress, everyone would say they didn't do a good enough job. Valtteri Bottas told the media:

"We're not way behind, but we're behind compared to some other teams. The fact is that some teams do have more people, and have more budget for different things, so there is still work to do on that side."

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The Finn was attracted to the team by a team principal who is now at Ferrari - Frederic Vasseur. Bottas recently said the promises made by the Frenchman have not been met so far, but he wanted to wait until next season.

"But I am seeing progress. The team is hiring all new people all the time, and things are starting to fall into place, but it has definitely taken some time."

Bottas beat his teammate Zhou Guanyu in the 2023 Drivers' Championship, but he still finished only in 15th place, which he blamed on the poor performance of the Alfa Romeo car.

"Obviously, I signed up for this project for three years, and we definitely need to see progress. I am expecting that, and it is what I am working towards."

The 34-year-old currently has a contract with Suaber that lasts until the end of the 2024 season. His future is not clear, so he hopes for a more competitive car next season, which would allow him to show what he's got. He added:

"It is going to be interesting early next year, and I'm definitely hoping for more performance and, obviously, eventually, my future comes to be discussion then."