RaceFans Round-up: Sauber not “stable” in recent years

In the round-up: Valtteri Bottas admits that there has been a lack of ‘stability’ within Sauber due to its focus on preparing for Audi’s takeover in 2026.

In brief

Sauber not “stable” over recent years – Bottas

After Sauber announced that CEO Andreas Seidl was leaving the team, and former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto will take the reins next month, Bottas admitted that the team has not been the most “stable” since he joined them in 2022.

“Definitely the last year or two, it’s not been really stable,” Bottas said. “There’s been lots of people leaving, lots of people joining, now another change in the leadership, so for sure that doesn’t help the ‘here and now’ moment.

“Even the previous shake-up, it was made for the future and more like for long-term. But with the change again, I think if we’ve had the same leadership and so on for the last few years and that stability, then maybe there’s more time to focus on the issues and solving them. But it’s been pretty clear that all the decisions in the last year or two have been made to be competitive from 2026.

“I know it’s not ideal in some cases, and unfortunately, many times fighting towards the back end, but my job is still to do the very best I can and at the same time push the team and contribute the best I can. That’s all I can do at the moment.”

Ferrari lacking “three or four tenths” – Sainz

Carlos Sainz Jnr believes Ferrari are lacking “three or four tenths” a lap to their rivals Red Bull and McLaren ahead.

Ferrari finished fourth and sixth last weekend with Charles Leclerc and Sainz, respectively, in Hungary – around 20 seconds behind the race winning McLarens. Sainz says he expects Ferrari will have a more difficult time this weekend in Spa.

“I think now Spa is going back a bit more towards a Silverstone kind of track,” said Sainz. “And last time we were in Silverstone, we struggled as a team.

“So I was encouraged to see the progress in Hungary, or we were a little bit quicker in Hungary, especially in the race. But let’s see how we are in Spa and if we can keep trying to get closer to the – I would call them now – top two teams. Because it’s clear that McLaren and Red Bull, when they switch it on, they have three or four tenths advantage over us.”

Taponen replaces banned Tsolov

Ferrari academy driver Tuukka Taponen will make his debut in Formula 3 at Spa this weekend, stepping in for Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov, who is banned from competing.

Tsolov has been forced to miss this weekend’s round after falling foul of a rule barring F3 drivers from racing in similar championships without permission. Tsolov was deemed to have raced in the Eurocup 3 round at Spa in April in violation of the rules and was prohibited from taking part in this weekend’s races. McLaren junior Martinius Stenshorne was also banned from racing at Silverstone for a similar infraction.

Taponen will step into Tsolov’s seat at ART this weekend. Taponen won this year’s Formula Regional Middle East championship and currently lies second in the Formula Regional European series.

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