Valtteri Bottas has shared a photo of a potential hazard at Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. The Finn will be hoping to put Sauber’s first points of the season on the board in Montreal after a frustrating race in Monaco last time out.
Bottas spent time re-familiarising himself with the Canadian surroundings on Thursday evening by taking a bike ride around the 2.7-mile course. But he wasn’t the only one taking a peak at the circuit.
A picture from his bike ride shows a groundhog emerging from under the barriers, raising fears that it could run out onto the track during practice sessions, qualifying or on race day.
Wildlife on track could be dangerous for drivers if they make a split-second decision to swerve out of the way. Captioning Bottas’ photo was the message: “Dear groundhog, please stay in the hole during this weekend.”
Sauber will be keen to keep furry distractions to a minimum after making a torrid start to the 2024 season. Neither Bottas nor Zhou Guanyu have managed to put a single point on the board in any of the eight Grands Prix so far.
Monaco was another miserable outing two weeks ago as Bottas and Zhou both finished two laps behind eventual winner Charles Leclerc. “It’s been tricky,” admitted Bottas after arriving in Canada. “We definitely understood some things in Monaco that could have been better with the set-up.
“But still, the gap that we had in qualifying, we haven’t found all of that. They were track-specific issues that we had in Miami and Monaco, obviously this is a different track so hopefully we can perform better. It is tight, it is close and a positive thing is that the race pace is still there. We just need to get a better qualifying position.”
The Finn hopes that Sauber’s engineers hold the key to a surge up the standings over the coming weeks, as he added: “So many teams have made good progress recently and I think that may be why we have stepped back slightly.
“But we’ve got something new here – a new rear wing which should be a bit more efficient, which is something we’ve been missing in the DRS zones. We’ve got something else also planned for the races ahead so we’re not, like, sleeping. We are trying to get there.”
Bottas, a former Mercedes star and winner of 10 Grands Prix, is out of contract at the end of this season. But the 34-year-old has suggested a move could be on the horizon and the wheels are turning behind the scenes.
“I’m optimistic that I’m going to be around next year,” he said. “Things are starting to fall into place. There was one piece of the puzzle solved this week, so yeah, things are really starting to move and I need to make my decisions soon.”
