Sauber heads into the F1 Bahrain GP weekend as one of the teams trying to break free from Q1 in a very close midfield fight, with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly missed out on advancing to Q2 at Suzuka last weekend. It became a track position event during the 53-lap race.
After testing in Bahrain, many predicted Sauber would be at the back of the field by a decent amount. However, a P7 for Nico Hülkenberg in Melbourne saw the German get them off zero immediately. They sit P9 after Haas, Racing Bulls and Ferrari scored more points across China and/or Japan respectively.
Nico Hülkenberg gives an assessment of where Sauber are ahead of the F1 Bahrain GP
As Hülkenberg points out, Sauber find themselves in an incredibly close fight with Haas, Aston Martin, Williams, Alpine and Racing Bulls. While the RBs and Alex Albon have tended to be at the front of it so far, it’s not by a massively comfortable margin.
“We are somewhere in the midfield. It’s quite a big midfield, it’s about ten cars that are very, very close together.
“Obviously we were here two months ago for testing, winter testing, and it didn’t look that good.
“But I think we’re not that far behind. We’re in contention in the mix, in the midfield there. But it’s very, very fine margins, and you really need to optimise everything to get close to the top ten.”
Progress to be made
The 37-year-old returned to Sauber for 2025, 12 years after a a single season with the team in 2013.
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and four-time race winner Carlos Sainz have previously explained the adaptation time it takes to get used to new machinery and all the various differences they entail. Both have also moved to teams with different engines versus their previous on
Nico Hülkenberg believes another three to five rounds will be required before he feels very comfortable in the Sauber C45.
“In terms of my feeling in the team, it’s good with the car, but I expect it still to grow and to get better.
“I think from history and from other guys as well, it takes about six, seven, eight weekends to get used to the new home, the new car, and to get fully comfortable.”
Speaking in Japan, Sauber performance director Stefano Sordo discussed how sensitive Nico Hülkenberg is regarding power steering and the throttle pedal following his move over from Haas.
In his Bahrain GP print media session, Nico Hülkenberg was asked about it. He explained it will take time for Sauber to give him what he wants as not everything can be fixed immediately.
“Yes, getting more comfortable, still more work to do, still work in progress, because many of these items, they’re not an overnight change.
“Some of them require proper redesign and have quite a long lead time, so we’re in the middle of the process still and still optimising things.”
