Credit: Stake F1 Team
Valtteri Bottas has been openly optimistic about the performance of the Stake F1 team coming into the Miami GP.
The Swiss team has had a tough start to this season. After encountering an issue where their wheel nuts were prone to cross-threading, they’ve had pit stops ranging from five seconds to 52.4 seconds.
Pit stop issues combined with two retirements because of mechanical issues have hindered Stake’s ability to be competitive in the final points positions. They remain last in the constructors with 0 points.
However, Bottas looks to past performances for himself and the team when heading to Miami.
Shanghai saw Stake make huge strides in terms of weekend success. The sprint format worked well for the Swiss team, with both drivers qualifying in the top 10. Zhou Guanyu ended up P9 only just missing out on points.
Bottas replicated the sprint performance up until his retirement from the race, which ended his hopes of a first-points finish in 2024.
Looking back to past Miami performances, 2022, Valtteri Bottas qualified fifth in his then Alfa Romeo, and finished the Floridian GP in seventh.
This was his best result in Miami and though he wasn’t able to repeat it in 2023, he remains hopeful this year.
He told RacingNews365 “Typically, it’s been actually good for us, in 2022 and ’23 it was pretty good for our car, so hopefully the same this year.”
This year marks the third for F1 in the home of the Miami Dolphins. It also marks the first U.S. race and second sprint race of the season.
The Miami GP has quickly become known for having a super-bowl-like feel. A track surrounding the NFL’s Miami Dolphins stadium, which is often filled to the brim with celebrities.
Bottas describes Miami as ‘quite tricky’
Valtteri Bottas told RacingNews365 that Miami was “An interesting track,” as well as calling it “technical.”
However, he also told them that last year “everything was a bit smoother – and the tarmac as well, was better.”
The Finnish driver also has the added pressure of Nico Hülkenburg signing to Stake for 2025. As well as Carlos Sainz allegedly being offered a contract.
In light of this, at least one of the current Stake F1 drivers will leave the team at the end of this season. Both drivers’ contracts expire this year.
It is now the job of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas to prove they are worthy of a seat in such a big year for the driver’s market.
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