Bottas admits Kick Sauber need ‘bigger upgrades and more of them’ as points drought continues in Canada

After another point-less outing in Canada, Valtteri Bottas says Kick Sauber need to deliver bigger upgrades as soon as possible in order to break their points duck, as they remain the only team in F1 yet to get off the mark this year.

Bottas and team mate Zhou Guanyu both started the race from the pit lane after changes were made to their rear wing assemblies overnight. From there the duo struggled to make much progress through the field and, while Bottas was one of the first to switch to slick tyres in changing conditions, the gamble didn't pay off enough.

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There was also drama for the Finn when he made contact with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, before eventually going on to cross the line 13th of the 15 classified runners.

Reflecting on whether the pre-race changes had helped with the feel of the car, Bottas explained: “I think with the conditions we had today it was probably the right thing to do, to try and do something. I think it helped a bit, we had a bit more downforce.

“But still, we made progress but mainly due to other cars making mistakes, etc. Pace-wise, we’re still not in the top-10 at the moment.”

Kick Sauber remain the only squad in the field yet to score a point this season and, in order to improve their propects, Bottas thinks that bringing frequent updates is the answer.

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“We need to keep making the car faster, we need to keep bringing upgrades,” the 10-time race winner conceded. “There’s some plan for the future, but we need bigger upgrades and more of them. I think that’s the key honestly.”

The weekend at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was equally challenging for Zhou, who ended the race in 15th and last place.

“Another tough race, obviously [the pre-race changes] didn’t really solve the issue," the Chinese driver commented after the Grand Prix. “There was quite a bit going on but for me it was a bit [of a] lonely race, especially during the second stint, [I was] just kind of driving alone.

“Not the smoothest weekend, but we have something already planned in the factory to be checking [if something was wrong with the car]. This weekend I don’t really have much confidence altogether with the car.”

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Assessing the mood within the team after two tough weekends in Monaco and Canada, Zhou voiced his hope that there can be some improvement next time out at the Spanish Grand Prix.

“On my side, especially the last two weekends, I just wasn’t able to have enough confidence to attack on the braking or the cornering,” the 25-year-old said. “We obviously a bit more struggled, but we will try to start from scratch for the next race in Barcelona.”