The Stake F1 Team started the 2024 season dramatically poorly, as Valtteri Bottas had problems with his tire temperatures in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. As a result, both races fell apart and he was left without points, and according to the Finnish driver, the second race in Jeddah was a wake-up call. It has to get better, and quickly.
Bottas had to give up his place at Mercedes to George Russell a few years ago, and since then the Finn has been trying to put things in order at Stake F1. However, it is not an easy task, because the team has been driving around in the backfield in recent years and it appears to be very difficult to close that gap in no time. During the first two race weekends of 2024 it became clear that there will still be work to be done to achieve progress this season.
Bad pit stops mainly caused by defective equipment
“The race in Jeddah was really a wake-up call for us,” Bottas emphasized to Speedweek. ‘Of course we have only completed two Grands Prix and we still have some parts in hand, but we really have to do better. Not only in terms of speed, but also in terms of execution.’ Bottas was mainly referring to the fifty-second pit stop in Jeddah. ‘That was the second time we had problems, because the wheel nut could not be placed properly on the bolt this time either.’
The Finn logically responded firmly to the incident: ‘We really have to solve this, because everything we can improve would be in vain if we lose all the time gained during the pit stops.’ On top of that, getting the hard tires up to temperature in Jeddah was anything but smooth. ‘It was only after fifteen laps that I had grip that I could move forward with, but by then the opportunity to make up for all the lost time had already passed.’
However, according to team boss Alessandro Alumni Bravi, it is important to emphasize that the slow pit stops are not the fault of the mechanics. ‘That has nothing to do with them. We now really have to work on improving the material, because that is the only way we can prevent this from happening again.’
