Following a difficult start to the 2025 Formula 1 season for Sauber, a happy Nico Hülkenberg reflects on his third, and second consecutive, points finish of the year in the wake of an exciting F1 Canadian GP.
Despite securing a solid P7 finish for Sauber in the opening Grand Prix of 2025, Nico Hülkenberg has struggled to crack the top ten for the majority of the first half of the season. Despite the team’s dry spell, a strong P8 finish in Canada, coupled with a shock P5 last time out in Spain, has brought the German as well as Sauber’s points haul to 20.
In the wake of last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Hülkenberg reflected on the race and noted the difference in performance. While his result in Spain was inherited as a result of an incident and subsequent safety car, this result was earned on merit.
Reflecting on the recent run of form, Hülkenberg cited the team’s recent upgrade as a key factor.
“Different, obviously different,” Hülkenberg replied when asked how his Canadian GP result felt in comparison to that of Spain. “It feels good, feels very positive, very happy of course to continue that trend and carry the momentum into here and onwards from here.
“I think at the end of the day it’s down to the performance, the upgrade. It’s showing some good performance and promise in the race again, I think more maybe than in Qualy. It was a good, clean race.”
“Pretty key for the race to just be ahead”
A strong opening lap from Hülkenberg paid dividends throughout the F1 Canadian GP. From a P11 start the German was able to make up ground on lap 1 to break into the points.
When asked about his first lap, Hülkenberg noted that a battle ahead allowed him to make the move. Albon and Colapinto got into a mess at the turn 8 and 9 chicane, opening the door for the German on exit.
This in turn allowed him to manage his tyres. From there a slightly longer opening stint then allowed the Sauber driver to optimise his race strategy.
“The first lap was decent, I was more or less in my position, but Franco [Colapinto] and Alex [Albon] were having a go at each other. They had a problem in Turn 8 and 9, both went a bit deep, so I managed to get them on the exit which was obviously pretty handy and I think also pretty key for the race to just be ahead, to then manage my tyres from there on and just bring that one in.”
“We’ve still got lots of areas that we can work and improve”
Hülkenberg was also quizzed about the team’s upgrade to the C45, and an earlier comment regarding qualifying. Hulkenberg claimed it was too early to draw conclusions. He did however hint that the car seemed to perform better in high speed.
Looking ahead to the coming F1 Grand Prix in Austria, the German was hopeful that the upgrade would prove effective. Given the high speed nature of the Red Bull Ring, his comments suggest the C45 should suit the track.
“Maybe a bit early to conclude that.” He suggested. “We need to look at some race stuff. Maybe the car was a little bit happier in the high-speed stuff, which is obviously Barcelona and here is a lot more low-speed and quite a bumpy circuit as well. We made an improvement, but we’ve still got lots of areas that we can work and improve, so it continues to be a work in progress.
“I think [Austria will be] similar to where we found ourselves now. I think quali is somewhere in the Q2. If it all goes brilliant, maybe we can squeeze it into the top 10, but it always depends on the weekend.”
When asked about the team’s operational improvements, Hülkenberg was quick to credit the team. Despite a difficult start he cited the amount of work which has gone into improving things incrementally at Sauber.
“It’s positive,” he replied. “I think all the work from the last few months or the last six months is paying off a bit.
“You see it paying dividends which is obviously a rewarding feeling, very nice, and how it should be. We need to keep doing what we’re doing and in the meantime hopefully we can find a bit more performance in the next couple of weeks.”
