Sauber's pitstop nightmare persists in Melbourne
Sauber F1 team continues to face pitstop problems, getting fined €5000 after a wheelnut incident in the Australian GP.
Recurring issues
The Sauber F1 team's pitlane struggles showed no signs of abating at the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Despite implementing "containment" modifications aimed at mitigating the recurring wheelnut issues that blighted their previous races, fresh problems emerged in Melbourne.
Bottas' costly delay
Valtteri Bottas, running ahead of both Haas drivers at the time, suffered a costly 28-second delay during his first pitstop, dashing his hopes of scoring points.
The issue arose when a wheel nut became dislodged during the stop.
Wheel nut incident draws €5000 fine
The errant wheel nut rolled into the fast lane, prompting a report to the FIAwheel nut stewards on safety grounds.
After an investigation, Sauber was fined €5000 as
"the team lost control of a wheelnut during a pitstop causing a potentially dangerous condition in the pitlane during the race."
Hardware issues persist
Despite Sauber's denial that the lost wheel nut resulted from their modifications, racing director Xevi Pujolar acknowledged the team's ongoing hardware troubles.
"We've got a problem with the hardware, and we need just to make sure that we have got time to find that solution and the parts,"
he said.
Zhou's gearbox woes
Zhou Guanyu's pitstop delay stemmed from a separate issue – a gearbox problem related to the driver procedures implemented as part of the "containment" measures against wheel nut cross-threading.
Ongoing search for solutions
While Pujolar confirmed Sauber's efforts to address the problems for the next race in Suzuka, he conceded that "the final solution will take a bit longer."
The team's persistent pitstop woes have proven costly, robbing them of potential points-scoring opportunities.
Long road aheadan
As the 2024 F1 season progresses, Sauber faces an arduous task in resolving their pitlane difficulties.
Continued issues could severely hinder their championship ambitions, searching for a comprehensive solution an utmost priority for the Swiss-based outfit.
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