Stake F1 Revs Up for Points with New Updates

Stake F1 targets a points revival in Budapest with strategic car updates after reaching Q3 last year.

Currently languishing at the bottom of the constructors’ championship before heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix, Stake F1 is rolling out significant upgrades this weekend on Valtteri Bottas’s car in an effort to reverse their fortunes. Xevi Pujolar, the team’s track engineering director, confirms in Budapest that the updates appear to be effective so far, although it remains challenging to fully assess progress after just two free practice sessions.

“We’ve brought a lot of new components for Valtari’s car this weekend and gathered data during the first two free practice sessions. At this stage, everything seems to be meeting our expectations, but it’s still early days,” Pujolar stated.

The Swiss-based outfit is the only team yet to score any points this season, but there is a glimmer of hope this weekend as their drivers had previously qualified fifth and seventh respectively at this very circuit in 2023.

“Yes, we had strong qualifying here last year, then we faced some issues during the race, so of course, we want to perform well in a single lap, but the main focus is the race and scoring points. For some reason, last year the performance was very strong in a single lap, but this season, things change from one race to another. So, we remain focused and are trying to optimize the car. We also have different packages for each car. It’s about getting the best out of both and seeing what we can do in qualifying and the race. That’s our main goal,” Pujolar added.

While the C44 is not a disastrous F1 car, it struggles across all circuits compared to its competitors, and the team has evidently yet to find a solution. Pujolar shed more light on what might be holding back the car’s progress.

“Everything is so close in terms of performance among the teams. Maybe the performances are not too far off, but we have struggled to get results. Early in the season, we were slightly better in terms of performance in qualifying and races, but we had issues with pit stops and other reliability problems with the car. It seems like the competitors have made a step forward in terms of performance, but everything remains very, very tight.”

“We are struggling more in low and medium-speed corners. We were about on par in the high-speed corners, battling more with the top teams, but at some point, even the midfield seemed to improve their performance in high-speed corners, and then we started having some bouncing issues, with the drivers losing a bit of confidence. So, we have worked with the car to try to find a setup that better suits the driving, confidence, and performance. And that’s the goal of this package we have with Valtteri, to have some leeway to develop in the second half of the season on this section.”

Regardless, given the tight margins within the pack and the fact that teams will quickly switch focus to 2026 early next year, Pujolar confirms that Stake F1 will continue to develop its car until the end of the current season.

“Yes, from our side, it’s certain that we will continue to push until the end of the season, especially with the situation we are in right now. And with the updates we have now, we have the opportunity to continue developing in the second part of the season.”