As F1 heads to the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, three teams have yet to score a point. The field has effectively split in half, making it much more difficult for those in the bottom five.
Those teams are reliant on exceptional individual performances or a mishap in front of them to sneak into the top 10. And only RB and Haas have managed to do that so far.
Yuki Tsunoda has single-handedly scored the seven points that have RB leading the way in the midfield. But even then, six of those came in one race at the Australian GP.
Haas are next up on five, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing either ninth or 10th at three of the last four races. Kevin Magnussen has also got a point on the board.
And then comes Williams, still unable to score after a turbulent start to the campaign. James Vowles has perhaps been just as focused on limiting crash damage as he has making it into the top 10 so far.
Alpine have perhaps been the biggest underachievers on the grid this year, having bagged 120 points and two podiums in 2023. They’ve made small steps in the right direction lately, but they remain in a desperately disappointing position.
And that just leaves Sauber. Since Zhou Guanyu finished 11th at the season-opening Bahrain GP, neither of their drivers has come home higher than 14th.
The start of their season has been marked by pit-stop woes that have often spoiled their races. And it’s hardly the image they want to project ahead of their transition to Audi in 2026.
Will Buxton on shock behind-the-scenes move ahead of Miami Grand Prix
Writing on X (formerly Twitter), F1TV presenter Will Buxton offered his reaction to news of a shock personnel change at Sauber. Valtteri Bottas has worked with Alex Chan since his arrival at the start of 2022, but he’ll have a new race engineer this weekend.
Despite the Swiss outfit’s recent woes, this was a ‘highly unexpected’ move. And it points to ‘unrest’ behind the scenes.
Bottas has been the stronger of the two Sauber drivers so far in 2024. He leads Zhou 4-1 in the qualifying head-to-head and 3-2 on race day.
Where will Valtteri Bottas race next year?
At least one of Bottas and Zhou knows that they will lose their drive for next year. That’s after Audi signed Hulkenberg ahead of their 2026 entry.
And worryingly, the German manufacturer are still going after Carlos Sainz in the hope of a wholesale line-up change. The indications are that they don’t rate either of their incumbent drivers especially highly.
This will no doubt lead Bottas to consider his options. While he hasn’t been able to make his mark in 2024, he’ll still be well-regarded in the paddock as a 10-time Grand Prix winner with 67 podiums.
There’s a possibility that he could return to Williams, though that would depend on Kimi Antonelli jumping straight to Mercedes. Bottas first raced for the team between 2013 and 2016.
And we may see an inadvertent driver swap between Sauber and Haas too. Should the American team decide that Oliver Bearman isn’t ready, Bottas could potentially partner Magnussen.
Ralf Schumacher has already backed the 34-year-old to fill the vacancy left by Hulkenberg. It may not be as exciting as the Audi project long-term, but it would keep him on the F1 grid.
The post ‘Unrest’: Will Buxton says 0-point F1 team have done something ‘highly unexpected’ ahead of Miami Grand Prix appeared first on F1 Oversteer.