2023 championship position: 9th, 16 points
Speedcafe’s 2024 championship prediction: 9th
The team known as Alfa Romeo last year is in a building phase ahead of formally becoming the Audi factory team in 2026.
With performance in that guise as the ultimate goal, the team is less focused on the immediate future.
That’s not to say it has written off 2024 and 2025, far from it, but it means its measure of success is different.
Results will matter to an extent, but they won’t be the sole determinant for Andreas Seidl.
Instead, it will focus on processes, broader strategy, and acquiring and implementing new resources – both human and otherwise.
That is a big task in Formula 1, especially in a field as competitive as it has become in recent years.
Development in recent years has also not been trivial for the Swiss team.
At the end of 2022, it fell behind as it struggled to bring upgrades to the car in time and, as a result, fell down the order.
It was a similar case in 2023, with a bright start fading as the year wore on.
There were glimpses of potential that suggested there wasn’t much missing, and when things went right, it could steal a point or two.
But that is an acknowledgement that something was missing, a point Valtteri Bottas made in his assessment of the campaign.
The coming campaign will, if anything, be a case of evolution more than revolution as the team continues to get the puzzle pieces in place ahead of Audi’s formal arrival.
Development speed should, in theory, improve as that project matures as the year wears on, which suggests Stake Sauber’s outlook probably looks better later in the year.
It’s a strange thought, given the battle it’s faced in recent years has been development rate.
Perhaps, rather than a late upturn, a more consistent season-long performance is the end game for 2024 ahead of a more ambitious attack in 2025.
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