The 2025 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying is another disappointment for the Kick Sauber Ferrari team, with neither Hülkenberg nor Bortoleto able able to reach Q3, again. The team stand last in the Constructors’ championship: Nico Hülkenberg has a mere 6 points to his name while his rookie teammate Gabriel Bortoleto does not have a single one and is at the very bottom of the rankings in the Drivers’ Championship.
Hülkenberg’s brief an frustrating Qualifying session
In the print media pen, Hülkenberg joked about his frustratingly brief session.
He stated that “Too short, unfortunately. I still wanted to be out there.”
Qualifying P16, the German could not go on to the second part of Qualifying. The Sauber driver would have hoped for more in the session as the upgrades on the C45 Sauber have improved the machinery.
“And the car performance is there. The upgrades that we brought this weekend definitely brought a step to the car. It’s more consistent, it’s better balanced.
“Unfortunately, my last sector in the final lap wasn’t that clean. I dropped some lap time there, which made the difference to be there or here.”
Hülkenberg attributed his disappointing qualifying result to understeer, which cost him valuable time on his flying lap.
“The last sector, unfortunately, I just picked up a bunch of understeer.
“I had two tenths actually, kind of banked, that I lost through turn 10 and 12, which is really annoying. It makes all the difference, obviously, in a very tight Q1.”
A tough race start expected from P16
The German driver acknowledged that he would face a tough challenge at the start of the race. He explained that starting from P16 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya would make finding overtaking opportunities difficult.
“Coming from 16th, obviously there’s going to be a lot of traffic or cars in front of me. And that’s never easy around here, a very flowing high-speed circuit. We’ll obviously put our heads together tonight and see what strategies we can run.”
Positive impact of recent upgrades on the C45
The Sauber driver was pleased with the recent upgrades on his C45, noting a significantly better car feel right from the beginning of the session.
“Yes, definitely. From the get-go, from lap one, you could feel that the car is in a happier place. It’s more benign, it’s more consistent and more load, so definitely a positive news set for us.”
However, the German explained that the revised front wing brought very little change to the car’s performance.
“A little bit. I think the load-to-high-speed balance, it is a bit sharper in the high-speed. Not huge, but you definitely feel that it’s a little different.
“I think it’s more the upgrade for us that helped us with the flexi-wing stuff. I’m not too sure, to be honest, how it impacted.”
Can Hülkenberg reach the points?
With the improved car, the 37-year-old driver feels more competitive and considers a top-10 finish a realistic target for the race
“Well, I don’t know. Let’s see. We definitely should be out there now.
“I feel close to the top ten probably was a realistic feeling.”
The Sauber driver anticipates that strategy will be crucial in the Barcelona GP.
“Yeah, absolutely, but it is what it is. We need to come up with a good strategy. I still feel, obviously it’s hot, deg[gradation] is definitely always going to play a big role here.
“I feel there can be some room for some interesting strategies and do something.”
Bortoleto outqualifies teammate, secures P12 for F1 Spanish GP
Outqualifying his teammate Nico Hülkenberg for the fourth time this season, Bortoleto secured a Q2 appearance and qualified P12 for the Barcelona GP. The Brazilian driver had to adapt to a newly upgraded car in the last free practice of the weekend before jumping into the car for Qualifying. The rookie driver testified to the difficulty of adapting so quickly:
“No, it wasn’t easy at all, actually. I think I was actually very scared before putting the package in this morning, you know. I was like, imagine we put this package in the car completely, it’s out of the window that I would like to be.”
Pleased with the car’s performance, he lauded the work of the Kick Sauber Ferrari team:
“But, you know, we have worked until very late last night, all the engineers, everyone in the factory, and we made some adjustments expecting some behaviours of the car for today, and it actually went in the direction we wanted, and the car was in a good window in FP3. I managed to adapt quite quickly and put a good performance today.”
Upgrades show promise
The upgrades were first fitted to Hülkenberg’s car and subsequently to Bortoleto’s, with a noticeable pace improvement seen on Hülkenberg’s machine during Friday practice sessions. The upgrade package therefore seems effective, although the car responds differently to each track, the Brazilian driver explained.
“I think it’s very difficult to say a lap time, just, you know, me and Nico, we have been very close the whole day today, and yesterday I have been two, three times off him the whole day. So, obviously there was other things involved, but I think even for us it’s very difficult to understand, you know. Like, when you put on track, every track is different than each other.”
Bortoleto’s realistic view on Sauber’s progress
While acknowledging the improvements, Bortoleto remains realistic about how much progress Sauber still needs to make.
“For this track has been quite solid and has been a step ahead, but still it’s not like a night and day. I think we did a step ahead, but we need to keep working in this direction.”
Hope for points hinges on strategy, luck, and tyre management
Aknowledging the challenge of closing the gap to the top teams and scoring points at the F1 Spanish GP, Gabriel Bortoleto remained hopeful that a combination of luck, race strategy, and tyre management could help him secure a top-10 finish.
“Let’s see how the race pace goes, but I think we are P13. Points is very… always difficult, because, you know, there is four top teams we know, and there is only two more places to score points, and we know we are not yet in that pace. So, we need to get a bit of luck tomorrow and do a good job with the tyres in the race, and maybe I can achieve some points.”
Confidence in C45’s adaptability across circuits
Bortoleto is confident that the upgraded C45 will adapt well to different circuits. In his opinion, the Sauber team has made a definite ‘step forward’ in the Barcelona GP.
“Again, I think yes and no at the same time, because there is very different tracks still this season. You know, street circuits, tracks that are much more bumpy than Barcelona. I think Barcelona is a very classic circuit that is like smooth and high speed, low speed, so you can have a good idea of the car.”
“But I think what we did for this weekend with the upgrade was a step ahead, and I don’t think it will not work for other tracks. I think it will actually work for every single track we go. We just don’t know how much for the other tracks, but definitely the step in the right direction, and we need to keep going in this direction.”
Cautious optimism for future upgrades and improvements
As additional upgrades are planned, Bortoleto remained cautiously optimistic about further improving the car.
“Yes, it does, but we need to keep our head down and working, because it is not that every upgrade will go perfectly in the right direction. I think we were expecting this upgrade for a long time, and it actually worked in the way we wanted. So let’s see in the next races how it goes, and we will keep working a lot with the team.
“I will give the support that needs to be given, and give my best to help them to find the right direction with the car.”
As Sauber continue to develop the C45, Hülkenberg and Bortoleto remain focused on turning promise into performance in Barcelona GP and races ahead.
