Sauber accused of ‘not even trying to be that competitive’ in damning F1 assessment

Jacques Villeneuve says it’s like Sauber are “not even trying” after another point-less race in Azerbaijan saw them lose ground in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

Sauber remain the only team this season yet to score a single point, the team’s best result being Zhou Guanyu’s P11 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Sauber are ‘not even trying to be that competitive’ says Jacques Villeneuve

But in the 16 races since, even near-misses have been hard to come by with the team not helped by their woeful qualifying performances.

While Zhou has only twice made it into Q2 in qualifying, Bottas has done so five times and even managed a P10 at the Chinese Grand Prix. Such has been the team’s season, he retired from that race with an engine issue.

The numbers don’t make for pleasant reading with Sauber cemented down in P10 in the Constructors’ Championship where they trail Alpine by 13 points.

Zhou is 20th in the Drivers’ Championship while Bottas is P22. Even Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto with their two starts for the season are ahead of the Sauber team-mates as they’ve managed points.

Sky F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz tried to find a silver lining as he spoke with guest pundit Jacques 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,” Kravitz said.

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

Villeneuve, however, shot that down.

Sauber team-mate head-to-heads in F1 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

“They’re just surviving until Audi takes over,” said the 1997 World Champion. “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.”

Sauber’s troubles come at a time when the team is preparing for Audi’s official takeover and rebranding in 2026.

As that draws closer, Audi have not only installed former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto as the new Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer, the Italian having replaced Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann, but they also announced Red Bull stalwart Jonathan Wheatley would join as Team Principal next season.

Binotto, who took up his role on 1 August, recently said of Sauber’s performances: “ 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.”

Sauber have seven races left in which to break their duck.

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