Sauber F1 team principal Jonathan Wheatley has opened up about Nico Hülkenberg’s lowly P20 finish, Gabriel Bortoleto’s performance, the drivers’ one-lap pace, and team morale following a difficult Singapore GP on Sunday.
Hülkenberg put his recent streak of tricky qualifying sessions behind to emerge as the leading Sauber on the grid. He set the eleventh-fastest time on Saturday, edging out the Williams pair Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.
Starting the race on medium tyres, the one-time podium finisher was unable to make any significant headway in the first stint. After pitting for hards on Lap 25, he found himself in a frenetic queue of cars, jostling for positions.
Hülkenberg was engaged in an intense battle with Franco Colapinto for 14th position on Lap 43 when the German clipped the rear of the Alpine in Turn 8, breaking his Sauber’s front wing endplate.
On the subsequent lap, the Argentinian’s unexpected braking point caught Hülkenberg off guard as he approached Turn 7. As a result, the 38-year-old spun out of control. He made his way back to the pits, switched to softs, and finished the race down in 20th place.
Meanwhile, Bortoleto missed out on Q2 by a matter of hundredths. Despite placing sixteenth, he lined up in P14 on Sunday following the disqualification of the Williams duo from qualifying for a technical infringement.
The Brazilian’s race was compromised at the start, as contact at Turn 1 forced a stop for a new front wing that cost time and crucial track position. After swapping his mediums for hard tyres on Lap 13, he spent much of the race stuck in a DRS train and crossed the line in seventeenth place.
Sauber still on a learning curve ahead of full Audi takeover
Speaking in a print media session after the F1 race, Sauber team principal Jonathan Wheatley shared his candid opinions on why Nico Hülkenberg finished dead last in Sunday’s Singapore GP. He acknowledged that they are still lacking as a team when it comes to nailing the execution of their race weekends on a consistent basis.
Asked if Sauber had pitted Hülkenberg too late, Wheatley admitted that their decision-making heavily contributed to their poor results and surmised that a points finish was on the cards at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Nonetheless, he added that the Swiss-based team is still on a learning curve as they gear up for Audi’s full takeover in 2026.
“I think if we look back on it, it’s a very frustrating day today. Actually, [it] hasn’t been a super smooth race weekend. And it’s one of those races where you’re reminded that we still don’t have the strength and depth in terms of our performance.
“I think we have to be brutally honest with ourselves about it. You know, we’re learning as a team and we’re learning as a group. And there’s a lot of learning to take from today.
“And yes, the decisions that we made during the race didn’t put us in the right position. I suspect that points were a possibility today.”
Wheatley impressed with Bortoleto’s progress during the weekend
With regard to how Gabriel Bortoleto recovered lost ground at an unfamiliar track after his experienced teammate outpaced him during the practice sessions and qualifying under the lights at Marina Bay, the 58-year-old commended the rookie for his performance.
Referring to how Bortoleto’s race unfolded, Jonathan Wheatley reiterated that Sauber fell short as a team during the Singapore GP weekend on the matter of execution. Moreover, he stated that they need to reevaluate their strategy and better prepare themselves for handling unforeseen circumstances in the future.
“I think this is always going to be the kind of questions that we ask ourselves with a young driver in their first season in Formula 1. Gabriel [Bortoleto] did a great job this weekend. I think about the way he built up over the course of the race weekend.
“You know, I’ve been very honest about this being a frustrating race weekend for us. I think we could have done things for both of our drivers that would’ve made the run through the weekend a bit smoother.
“And then what I would say about Gabi today is, I think if we look at our strategy and we look at how the race panned out, we need to work out how much of it was just things going against us and how many of those events could we have foreseen going into the race.”
Sauber should question themselves more
In terms of Nico Hülkenberg finding his feet again in qualifying during the F1 Singapore GP weekend and whether this serves as evidence that the Sauber drivers are pretty evenly matched, Jonathan Wheatley retorted that it’s an inconsequential issue. He also added that such performance swings are unsurprising.
Emphasising how execution is key to a better starting position in a field that’s incredibly tight over a single lap, the Brit proclaimed that the team ought to be under more scrutiny for their operational shortcomings than the drivers.
“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head that they’re evenly matched. Sometimes Gabi has the upper hand, sometimes Nico will. I didn’t see a huge issue and I can’t understand why I’m being asked the question so many times.
“But then again, look at the margins in qualifying at the moment. I know I keep saying it and I sound like a broken record, but that tells the story itself. Nico had a clean run all the way through and then look at him, he just delivered another great qualifying performance.
“And, again, I think there’s more questions to ask ourselves operationally as a team than there are of the drivers this weekend.”
Transforming frustration into positive energy
Despite Sauber’s point-less finish at the F1 Singapore GP, Jonathan Wheatley maintained that there were positives to take away from the race weekend. He remarked that they are intent on transforming the frustration into productivity and allowing their ambition to drive them forward.
“I think the feeling in the engineering office this evening was one of frustration. But, you know, I can take that as a positive for several reasons.
“I think the first reason is it shows the level of ambition and where we see ourselves now. Also we can turn that into a positive energy to have a very good look at how we performed over the entire race weekend and what can we do better, what can we learn from it, and how do we move forward.”
