Zhou Guanyu says Sauber Motorsport is going in the right direction as Andreas Seidl and James Key start to have full hand on the F1 team.
With Audi takeover still few years away, Sauber is in a transition period. Post the departure of Frederic Vasseur, they hired Seidl from McLaren who brought in Key with him to look at the technical department. Both have now their full hands on the job as 2024 starts.
They two are not just getting things sorted for the couple of seasons ahead, but also working towards the 2026 change when Audi arrives. Guanyu believes that things are moving in right direction as the team is taking proper feedback from drivers.
This can be seen with the decision to shed away from the 2023 concept towards a new one in 2024. “It change a lot because last year, of course when Fred left, Andreas took over and Audi is to come two years from now,” said Guanyu. “Things are shifting around quite a lot in the factory, some people leaving, some arriving from other places, for example James Key.
“So 2023 was a year where we tried to get everything settled down and 2024 will be the proper year that we are getting prepared for what is coming in 2026. From my side, I see some very good positives, having Andreas and also James, they are really keen on taking feedback of the drivers.
“When we give them the feedback, this is what they try to develop and deliver in 2024, at the end of the day, performance is the biggest thing and to have a strongest package we can, and that’s where they are trying to push. Of course, Andreas is trying to make sure that the team is more organised, having more people getting into the factory on manufacturing side.
“They want to have people less stressed, so they can have inverting jobs with bit more individuals, organise too many people, I think it is going in the right direction,” summed up Guanyu, who stressed that the situation is not weird as they drive during a transition period before the arrival of Audi in 2026.
“It is not really weird because Sauber team has been in F1 for many years in the past but it is just, maybe the only thing is that, there’s Audi people coming in two years, so they are investing already a little bit in 2024 which from our side is a good thing if anything,” said Gauanyu.
“Because as I said, Sauber team if you have a manufacture works team in the future, then you can have more help from whats coming from Audi and for me as a driver, you try to get the best out of the car every weekend, so it doesn’t really change much.”
Here’s Valtteri Bottas on 2024 car
Here’s Zhou Guanyu on car performance masking their own improvements
Here’s Valtteri Bottas on wanting bigger moments in 2024
Here’s Sauber adopting ‘Stake F1 Team’ name
Here’s Sauber on James Key and drivers
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