Valtteri Bottas’ third and final year with Sauber failed to live up to expectations netting him 17th in our F1 2024 Driver Rankings. A poor C44 saw the Finn suffer his first pointless season in his 12 year Formula 1 career.
2024 was a year to forget for Bottas. With his three year stint with Sauber coming to a close, the C44 failed to provide the performance needed to fight in the midfield. Despite beating teammate Zhou in both race and qualifying head to heads, Bottas finished the season in P22 as one of three non scorers.
The blame for Bottas’ first point-less season cannot be placed firmly at his feet however. The poor performance of the C44 hampered his efforts from the beginning. Despite some stand out performances, particularly in qualifying, the pace to compete simply wasn’t there.
Even though Bottas’ cannot be solely to blame for his 2024 season, his lack of results sees him ranked 17th in Pit Debrief’s F1 2024 driver rankings. Reflecting on the season below, we will delve into the highs and lows of 2024 for the Finn.
A difficult start to the season
The uphill battle for both Bottas and teammate Zhou was evident from the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix. From a qualifying position of 16th, Bottas only managed a lowly P19 in Sunday’s Grand Prix. Hampered by a 52s pit stop, as the Sauber team struggled with his front left tyre, Bottas failed to recover.
In the second race of the season, bad luck continued to plague the Finn. With his sights set on Q2, Bottas narrowly missed progressing as he cited traffic on his final push lap as the cause. From his P16 starting spot, he once again failed to progress, eventually finishing P17 only ahead of his teammate as the last 2 running cars. Following the Grand Prix, a frustrated Bottas said the team “need a wake up call.”
The Australian Grand Prix following seemed to show signs of improvement however. A first Q2 appearance of the season saw Bottas start from P13 and finish in P14. A repeat performance of P13 to P14 next time out in Japan seemed to add credence to the apparent improvement.
Failure to improve
Despite signs of improvement across the opening 4 races, Bottas’ seemed to stagnate as the season progressed. From a first DNF with an engine issue in China, to an FP3 crash in Monaco, things just didn’t line up for the Finn.
In spite of car issues and poor pit stop performances, Bottas remained consistent as the season progressed. He regularly outperformed the car, securing P13 finishes in both Monaco and Canada. The difficulties were still evident however, with a P18 finish in Imola following an upgrade package for the C44 highlighting his struggles.
Heading into the summer break, Bottas failed to make headlines with a string of poor finishes. The Finn continued to show his prowess on Saturday’s however, with an impressive P12 in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was once again let down by race place, coming home in a lowly P16.
Post-summer break difficulties
The summer break in Formula 1 often offers a reset to come back stronger in the latter half of the season. Unfortunately for Bottas, the Dutch Grand Prix did not provide any reprieve from his struggles. Having missed FP1 with Robert Schwartzman taking the helm of his car, the Finn failed to extract performance all weekend.
A P18 result, ahead only of his teammate, in qualifying was later improved to a P17 start. The weekend did not improve on Sunday however, with a season worst result of P19. Bottas himself confessed the Dutch Grand Prix to be the low point of his season.
Final streaks of brilliance
With his final season with the team, and potentially in the sport, drawing to a close, Bottas managed to show his pace right at the end of the season. The Qatar Grand Prix brought a season best performance for the Finn. From a P13 grid spot, he managed to claw his way into the top ten. Sadly, it just wasn’t to be with Bottas, losing out to a recovering Norris in the closing stages of the race. Finishing a season best of P11.
Abu Dhabi provided one final shot at points. The weekend look promising from the get go, with Bottas taking P7 in FP2 on Friday. A season best qualifying of P9 seemed to set the stage ahead of the Grand Prix.
It was downhill from the beginning on Sunday however. Contact with Perez at the beginning of the Grand Prix saw Bottas sustain damage and earn a penalty. A mid race collision with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen brought his final Grand Prix to an unfortunate early end. Old hard tyres saw him lock up, making contact and badly damaging his front left suspension.
Conclusion
Although we saw brief glimpses of Bottas’ potential throughout 2024, and particularly towards the end of the season, an overall lack of pace from the C44 cost him dearly. While the Finn, as well as teammate Zhou, may have outperformed the car in brief moments, his first ever point-less season in Formula 1 sees Bottas rank 17th in Pit Debrief’s F1 2024 Driver Rankings.
