End of the world in quality – and at Alfa-Sauber: “The C43 is at the end – totally new car for 2024”

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At the time of the end of the world (with the exception of Piastri, the nine other drivers had barely been able to complete one lap) there was no end to it for a long time at Alfa-Sauber. A week ago, Bottas and Zhou shot their way into the top ten final in Mexico. Now the catastrophe: 18th Bottas – 20th and last Zhou. It couldn’t get any worse.

“Car is at the end!”

Only recently, team representative Bravi van Hinwil had finally said clearly: “Our car has reached the end of development. We need a technical restart. We have recognized the limits of our car and want to stop them. But identifying and fixing errors are two different things. Only in February during the tests in Bahrain will it become clear whether we have succeeded in this.”

Beating around the bush for a long time

Since the start of the season, the Italian had covered up everything in his press releases, dreamed of points in all races and simply did not want to tell the truth. Blick has criticized him for this several times. And Bravi’s candid words reflected the year’s worst qualifying.

Friend of CEO Seidl would help

But the two drivers, who mainly benefited from arbitrary points, were not rewarded for their loyalty to the team. In short: the C43 from Monchaux was more or less a flop. The Frenchman was dismissed as technical director in September. Now CEO Andreas Seidl’s good friend, James Key, must keep the damage to a minimum or even stop it before 2024. With a completely new car, a new chassis and new suspensions.

The future partner Audi (from 2026) will certainly monitor the new situation in the Oberland of Zurich (without Alfa) even more closely. And maybe even intervene.

Bottas/Zhou with hope for improvement

The Finn Valtteri Bottas (34), who shaved his mustache for a good cause, and the Chinese Guanyu Zhou (24) can compete in their third season together in 2024. For many fans it was an incomprehensible decision by the Sauber management.

Well, the duo can blame some of the bad ideas in 2023 on the rarely competitive car. Okay, but you shouldn’t have called for all the updates week after week – Bravi style – big progress, etc. It has long been noticed by the employees and mechanics that the C43 is just a miracle bag. And from where one or two random points suddenly fall until the final in Abu Dhabi. Not anymore.

Source : Blick