F1 Insider Offers Scathing Sauber Verdict - 'Not Even Trying To Be That Competitive'

Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve came down heavily on the Sauber F1 team for its last-place race finishes and poor performance over the 2024 season. He concluded that the team with drivers Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas was "not even trying to be that competitive."

Due to a lack of upgrades, Sauber has remained on the back foot throughout this season, with both drivers failing to score points in the Grands Prix thus far. The Hinwil outfit remains the only team on the F1 grid to have not scored a point in the season until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Sauber is undergoing a takeover by Audi, which concludes in 2026. As a result, several changes are being made to the team and its organizational structure, creating an environment of stagnancy within the team. Team bosses Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann were recently ousted by Audi, who brought in former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto to take over the dual role of CEO and CTO. Binotto's hiring was followed by the signing of Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley for the role of team principal, who takes on the role mid-next year.

Despite the changes behind the scenes, these improvements have yet to translate into on-track performance. The team's form has noticeably declined since Guanyu's P11 finish in Australia. Bottas came close to securing his first point of the season in China while running tenth, but an engine issue on the C44 forced him to retire from the race.

Now though, Bottas is stationed P22 in the Drivers' Standings, whereas Zhou is in P20. Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz highlighted the tightened grid, suggesting a 1.5-second difference between the timing on the pole and the Saubers. As reported by Planetf1.com, he told Villeneuve in Baku:

“I mean the funny thing is about Sauber is that they’re at the back more or less every qualifying and more or less every race, but you look at the times, the grid is so close, it’s only about a second, maybe a second-and-a-half that they’re off pole.

“So, it’s obviously not a bad car, it’s just compared to everybody else it is.”

However, Villeneuve thinks that car isn't being pushed as much. He said:

“They’re just surviving until Audi takes over.

“They don’t seem like they’re pushing much into the car.

“They’re not even trying to be that competitive, so, there’s not much to say there.”

Binotto, who recently took over the fresh role, emphasized the current situation was unacceptable. He said:

“We cannot afford it.

“I think this is the team that has to become, in the future, a winning team. And the only way to do that is starting to move up, progressing. We need to train our muscles for the future.

“So, yes, I think we need certainly to improve. That’s important for ourselves, that’s important for the team. It’s important for the brand. It’s important for our partners. And we cannot somehow accept the current position.”