The 2025 F1 Spanish GP marked the best race for Sauber so far in the season, and team boss Jonathan Wheatley couldn’t be more psyched about it. Sauber brought a slew of upgrades for the Barcelona circuit, which proved their worth. The man who brought home a P6 finish (later promoted to P5 owing to Max Verstappen’s 10-second penalty) was none other than their seasoned campaigner, Nico Hülkenberg.
Hülkenberg’s P5 finish marked Sauber’s best result since the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP. Valtteri Bottas, too, finished P5 in the Italian race. The result at the Spanish GP came as a surprise to experts and fans alike. While Wheatley is among those celebrating the feat, ‘surprising’ is not a word he’d use to describe his feelings.
Wheatley admitted that the upgrades delivered what was expected of them. That, paired with the drivers’ consistent feedback, helped him and the team gauge what was on the cards at the Spanish GP.
“I’d say I was just pleased that the upgrade did what we expected it to do. And the feedback from the drivers was consistent, and that we had a racing car under us today, you know?” said Wheatley in a print media session after the Spanish GP. “And it’s the first time that I’ve felt that since I’ve been here and it’s a great feeling and I’m trying to stay in the moment a little bit before pressing on to the next race.”
Hülkenberg believed the Technical Directive (TD) clamping down on front wing flexibility was another factor that played in Sauber’s hands. Wheatley did not necessarily agree with his senior driver’s assessment. However, he did admit that the team needed to run a deeper analysis to come to a conclusion.
“I don’t,” replied Wheatley when asked if he believed the TD helped Sauber’s cause. “You know what? Honestly, I don’t know. We’ll do some competitor analysis next week and we’ll understand. But I think we put a package on the car today, this weekend, which delivered.”
Jonathan Wheatley pinched himself as Sauber drivers overtook the Ferraris
Kimi Antonelli’s misfortune pumped in some excitement in what was turning out to be yet another dull Spanish GP. The Mercedes driver beached his car in the gravel, prompting the safety car to come out on Lap 55.
That led most drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and Hülkenberg, to pit for a tyre change. Both drivers came out with the soft compound tyres. However, what worked in Hülkenberg’s favor was that he had a fresh set of softs, while Hamilton drove with a used one.
Taking advantage of the situation, the German made a pass on the Briton, who did not give it much of a fight to defend the position.
When asked about Hülkenberg’s overtake on Hamilton, Wheatley responded, “We overtook two Ferraris today. Both drivers. Yeah, I mean, honestly, it was a bit of a pinch yourself moment because that was, again, on pace.”
The 58-year-old then acknowledged the strategic roadblocks the team has faced in the past. This time, however, they held on to their nerves under the safety car and had excellent communication to find the right window to pit.
“We’ve come under a bit of criticism and we’ve admitted ourselves when we haven’t done a great job in terms of strategy. All the right conversations were being had. There was no panicking into anything. We knew how long we had,” said Wheatley.
“We didn’t have to rush into something. I guess we really need to do the numbers. Could Nico have come out ahead? I’m not sure. But, you know, I came away thinking that this is our strongest performance, not just on track, but in terms of team.”
Jonathan Wheatley lauds Nico Hülkenberg’s ‘class act’
The P5 finish at the 2025 Spanish GP marked Hülkenberg’s first top-5 finish since the 2019 Italian GP. He drove for Renault (now Alpine) back then. It has been 123 races and 2,093 days since.
That does not mean the result at the Spanish GP was easy to pull off. Hülkenberg started the race in P15 and a chaotic start to the race saw him take the escape road to avoid a collision into turn 1. The 37-year-old carefully maneuvered his way through to avoid any contact and then deployed calculated aggression until the safety car.
“I think you saw a class act today,” said Wheatley on Hülkenberg’s Spanish GP drive. “You saw somebody who had a point to prove and I think we can come away from that knowing he’s proven it, you know. And he’s not a driver that lacks confidence and he’s not a driver that lacks experience but even this will be a real boost for him, I’m sure.”
Hülkenberg’s 10 points have put Sauber in P8, with Aston Martin slipping down to P9 in the standings. However, both teams have 16 points each and are ahead of only Alpine, who are 10th with 11 points.
