Valtteri Bottas feels Sauber is close to resolving the persistent wheel-nut difficulties that have afflicted too many of the team’s pitstops this season, thanks to the Swiss outfit’s proactive initiatives.

Bottas and teammate Zhou Guanyu have also been affected by Sauber’s issues, but the Finn has suffered the brunt of the blame, with a disastrous 52-second pitstop in Bahrain and then a wheelnut that went astray in Melbourne, resulting in a 30-second stop.

Sauber has been hard at work adjusting its components and processes to address the problem.

Unfortunately, simply rolling back to its 2023 equipment is not an option. 

The team’s decision to a pullrod front suspension this year left its previous setup unsuitable, adding another layer of complication to their search for a solution.

Bottas is cautiously optimistic, highlighting the team’s recent development and admitting its attempts to resolve the issue ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

With critical points on the line, Sauber desperately needs a remedy to ensure seamless pitstops and unleash the full capability of its C44 charger.

 “There has been progress and modifications made to the procedures and some of the materials,” Bottas told the media last weekend in Japan.

“Some measurements have been taken, but it is still not 100% fixed, unfortunately, but the chance of an issue should be lower.”

Bottas said that Sauber was caught off guard by the problem, which originally appeared during pre-season testing.

“It is an issue that was kind of there, we didn’t know before the season that it would be an issue, and it is not a quick fix,” he added.

“But there is 100% a fix planned, hopefully for China, but it is still not 100%.”

“Even before the Bahrain test, it was not a big concern, but in the test, we started to see some issues.”

“We are in this together, and I was disappointed, the whole team was disappointed. These things shouldn’t happen, but we are taking it seriously and it is a priority to get it sorted.”