Tag Archives: Sauber

November 12, 2025 · 4:38 pm

How Bortoleto has learned lessons from his nightmare home GP in Brazil

The Sauber rookie had two costly crashes in front of his home crowd at Interlagos

To say that the Brazilian GP was a weekend of mixed emotions for new local Formula 1 hero Gabriel Bortoleto would be something of an understatement.

On the positive side he had a huge amount of support, as evidenced by the number of Sauber shirts in the crowd, and the reception he received when he was singled out for special treatment during the drivers’ parade, with his own car and interview slot.

On the downside he had a huge crash in the sprint race while racing Alex Albon, and trying to make up for it after missing qualifying, he crashed again on the first lap of the main race while battling Lance Stroll.

Given how few mistakes he’s made in his rookie year it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that he tried a little too hard to impress in front of his home crowd, and simply overdid it.

To his credit he readily admitted that he took too many risks, and that he has learned some lessons – not least to be a little more cautious in a sprint, given that his team lost the race to build up the spare car for him for main qualifying.

“First of all, I need to congratulate the team, because they rebuilt a car from zero, and they almost made it work for qualifying,” he said when I asked him about missing the session. “So that’s not easy. They did an amazing job.

“And from what happened from my side, I tried the first lap of the move on Alex, and I managed to succeed, but then he overtook me back with DRS. And then on the second lap, I think was a combination of things. I went for the move, I divebombed him again. And DRS was on.

“I braked probably a little bit in the wet patches, and ended up that the car pointed completely to the left in the wall, and after that, I was just a passenger. You cannot control it. Just terrible.”

A local journalist likened the incident to one in China, when Bortoleto was taken out by Jack Doohan in the sprint, and then suggested that it was avoidable given they were “fighting for P19.”

Having considered the comparison, and given that he and Albon were actually racing just outside the points, Bortoleto came up with a sensible and logical answer.

“I’ve been used to fight always in the front in my previous series, and now in F1, I don’t have quite there the car yet,” he said. “So I need to fight at some point. And the whole year, I think I’ve been backing out and not being able to fight.

“But I think I need to learn and to test things as well, because the day that I hopefully will get a car to fight for championships, I cannot make such mistakes. And I believe things like today create better drivers – like everyone did, if you see Max Verstappen at the beginning of his career.”

Regarding the Shanghai comparison he said: “And coming back to China, I think I was upset with Jack, yes, because he literally locked up everything and ended up hitting me. But we talked after, and it was fine. Obviously, in the moment I was very upset.

“Today I made the move the lap before that ended up quite well. We didn’t crash into each other. And today, I don’t know, it was wet, I hit the wall. It was not even Alex, I ended up in the wall.

“So I am sorry for him, because I saw my front wing ended up hitting his car. I don’t know if had damage from that or not. But life moves on, and I hope I will learn from my mistakes in the future as well.”

It was always going to be tough from P20 on the grid, and thus it was a useful bonus that with Verstappen and Esteban Ocon in the pitlane, he actually started from P18.

After a good getaway he passed the delayed Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto before he came across Stroll – and found himself in the barrier for the second time.

At the time he blamed the Aston Martin driver, but having reviewed a replay, by the time I asked him about it he’d changed his mind.

“It was a good start,” he said. “I overtook two cars, Lewis and Colapinto in the outside of Turn 6. It was a nice move. And then Lance, I was just side-by-side with him out of Turn 9.

“There’s no pointing fingers here, just lap one, and I was in the outside, he opened a little bit more than than what there was space there. He clipped my front tyre, and I ended up in the wall. I think it’s a racing incident.

“Obviously, if he had given a bit more space, I would have done the corner, probably overtaken him because he had worse tyres than I had, because I was on soft. But again, it’s a racing incident, he didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sure. Every time I fight with him, he’s fair with me. So just racing.”

Bortoleto is a very smart guy, and despite the obvious frustration he was able to rationalise what had happened over the previous couple of days. He had no one else to blame.

“Yeah, a tough weekend,” he said. “We can forget and move on. I just take the positives that my whole country was here supporting me, the Brazilians, and just sad because I have not been able to race today and show a bit of the pace that I believe we had.

“It comes from me, from my incident in the sprint race that caused me not to do quali. So I’m going to be the first one harsh on myself here.

“I believe it’s a consequence of things that happened earlier in the weekend. But anyway, obviously it’s more painful because it’s my home race. But it’s just another weekend.

“We had so many good ones. We had bad ones as well, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I just need to move on, analyse things and learn from my mistakes and go for the next one.”

So what sort of lessons had he learned?

“I think just risk management, I think I’m happy that I’ve been trying to do different things this weekend, being more aggressive and trying things.

“But a sprint race, it’s probably not the best moment to try a risky thing when you can break your car and not do qualifying like I did. So that’s for sure learning.”

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June 29, 2025 · 6:07 am

Bortoleto’s Q3 debut shows that he’s learning fast at Sauber

The Brazilian will start the Austrian GP from an encouraging P8

While his fellow 2025 Formula 1 rookies Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar have been in the spotlight Gabriel Bortoleto has been making quiet progress at Sauber.

He’s been overshadowed of late by strong race performances from team mate Nico Hulkenberg, but he has outqualified the German on several occasions, and he did so again in Austria.

Helped by another round of updates the Brazilian was quick from the start of the weekend at a track where he’d been successful in the junior categories.

Eighth in FP2 and 10th in FP3 suggested that he had a real shot at his first Q3 appearance, and he duly went through the three qualifying sessions in P8, P5 and P8.

On a day when Hulkenberg made a mistake and ended Q1 in 20th and last position it was a standout performance from the F3/F2 champion.

“I feel like the track is very special for me,” he said when I asked what had clicked for him. “But for sure I’m getting more and more experience with the car and the team and the series.

“It’s just the beginning. Is not even half of the season. I’ve been working very hard on understanding what I need from my side, from the car, and I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with it, and that I know what I need before even the weekend starts.

“And I feel like it’s the first weekend that I am that comfortable since FP1. And it feels like things are clicking for me, and I’m going in the right direction.”

What impressed was the way he was strong over all three qualifying sessions, rather than fading to P10 having made Q3.

“Well, it’s very promising, and hopefully we can achieve this type of qualifying every single time,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not easy.

“I feel like it’s a track that has been positive for the car and for me, but yeah, there’s a lot of to work still, and it’s not that we are comfortable in Q3 it has been a very tight quality and I’ve been putting some good laps together.

“The car was spot-on as well. And let’s see, let’s see how we go on to the end of the season.

“I feel like I’m getting more confident with the car, but not only from the upgrades, but also myself on understanding. At the beginning of the season, when you jump in the car, it’s basically a different feeling.

“It’s like every single FP1 is, you don’t know how the car is going to behave. But then when you get used to the car, more and more, you start putting it in the limits earlier in the weekend, and you work on more in yourself, on the driving and the setup. And I feel like we have been going in this direction this weekend.”

The target now has to be his points of the season. He’s got Ma Verstappen in front of him, and Kimi Antonelli in a potentially quicker Mercedes behind, so he’s going to have to pick his fights.

“It doesn’t change so much my approach in the start. I’m going to try to do the best start possible gain some positions. If I cannot gain, I’m going to try to keep there, and try to make the best race pace I can score points tomorrow.

“Obviously, it makes no sense fighting with people you cannot stay ahead of. But for sure, I’m a racer, I’m going to try to gain the positions early in the race and see what happens.

“But I’m not going to be focusing on overtaking people that I know probably have better pace than me, like Verstappen, because you probably just destroy your tyres doing this. So we need to focus racing with people that we actually know we can.”

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June 2, 2025 · 9:01 am

How “everything clicked” for Hulkenberg’s P5 charge in Spain

Hulkenberg had a little luck but nevertheless his result in Barcelona was well deserved

Amid the hoopla surrounding Max Verstappen at the end of the Spanish GP a superb performance by Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber almost got lost in the mix.

The German was helped by the late safety car, and was gifted a place by Verstappen’s penalty. However he had been solidly in the points for most of the race, and his eventual P5 was well deserved.

It’s not been an easy year for Sauber thus far, and the Swiss team has often had the ninth or 10th fastest car on the grid.

Hulkenberg took some pressure off with a good early result in Melbourne, but that was more down to his tenacity and good strategy in the rain.

In Spain the team bolted some performance onto the car with a floor update that impressed Hulkenberg from the start on Friday.

However his qualifying session didn’t live up to the promise of practice, and he was squeezed out in P16, although Gabriel Bortoleto hinted at the true potential with 12th spot, having only got the updates on Saturday.

Hulkenberg then gained a spot from Lance Stroll’s withdrawal and from P15 on the grid he rode his luck around the first couple of corners, benefiting from a clash between Alex Albon and Liam Lawson, before getting ahead of both his team mate and Fernando Alonso.

Unexpectedly up to 10th on the first lap, he now had a very good chance of logging some points.

A relatively early first stop and a long second stint on the medium tyres put him in a strong position in the latter part of the race, and he was running ninth when Kimi Antonelli’s retirement handed him another spot, and brought out the safety car.

While everyone around him also pitted Hulkenberg had the benefit of new rather than used softs for the restart, and he used them to good effect to get ahead of Isack Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton to cross the line in P6, before the Verstappen penalty kicked in and gave him another position.

“It was a great race,” he said when I asked him about his afternoon. “Just one of those races where just everything seemed to click and to work out beautiful, when it happens. It doesn’t happen that often, unfortunately!

“A mixture. Having all these new tyres being out in Q1 actually was really useful and helpful today. And then, on the other hand, from 16th to have the start and lap one that I had kind of immediately reset the race, and then put us into the fight for a good result.

“And obviously the late safety car and then having another set of softs did the rest of it. So very happy. And obviously we take that, but that’s just if you bring updates and performance that works, you can help yourself.”

In the end the first lap charge made all the difference: “There was a car coming, sliding across, so both I think Gabby and I had to avoid Turn 2 and avoid some car, I’m not sure who it was.

“I had a bit of a little fight with Fernando also, I think, for one or two laps, but wrestled him down in the end. And that was good.”

Hulkenberg’s pass on Hamilton raised a few eyebrows, but he insists it wasn’t a fair fight.

“Well, he was on used, he only had used softs left. And that’s where you see, even though he’s in a Ferrari, how important and how powerful the tyres are, he was just sliding around a lot. And I had new boots, which made all the difference, to be honest.”

It was a great result too for the team, which has inevitably been in the spotlight amid management changes and with the focus that Audi’s ownership brings.

“It’s obviously a very sweet moment,” said Hulkenberg. “The second time points this year, but since Melbourne it has obviously been a bit of a dry patch.

“It’s been difficult, but I believe it puts us more on the map in the midfield fight. We’ve found the connection to that train. in quali things are very tight and everything needs to be right. But I feel like in the races, hopefully we can be there, push into it, and fight with all these other guys more.”

It was a perfect storm of circumstances, but the new floor played at least some role in moving Sauber up the order.

“I think it’s more the updates,” said Hulkenberg. “Maybe it’s the technical TD, the flexi wing stuff that others paid more of a price than us, because honestly, I feel for us, it didn’t change that much.

“I don’t feel much different in high-speed. And to be honest, high-speed so far has been not our strongest point. So I tend to believe it is the update.”

The team has promised another package – already designed and currently in manufacture. The fact that this one translated to the track so well appears to be a sign that the restructure is coming together, and new people are gelling.

“Absolutely,” said Nico. “And P5 obviously we can only dream of in normal races and circumstances. But I think it was a P8 or P9 before the safety car, which already would have been really, really good for us.

“So, I think just happy, everyone in the factory, can be happy that the update delivered. It’s what we needed. We can’t stop here, because nobody stops. We need kind of more of the same.”

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April 26, 2024 · 8:39 am

Hulkenberg leaves Haas F1 team to join Sauber and Audi

Hulkenberg is on his way to Audi. Photo: @tinnekephotography

Nico Hulkenberg is to join the Sauber Formula 1 team for 2025 and thus be a key part of the transition into full Audi identity the following year.

The German has long been linked with a future at Sauber/Audi, having previously driven for the team for a single season in 2013, when he scored points on 10 occasions and finished 10th in the World Championship.

Hulkenberg is well known to Sauber CEO Andres Seidl, the pair having worked together at Porsche in 2015, when he won the Le Mans 24 Hours.

“The signing of Nico is the next milestone for Audi’s F1 project,” said Seidl. “With his speed, his experience and his dedicated teamwork, he will make an important contribution to Audi’s entry in 2026 as early as next year.

“Right from the start, there was great mutual interest in tackling a project of this uniqueness together. Nico is a strong personality, his determination and desire on a professional and personal level will help us to make progress both in the development of the car and in building up the team.”

Hulkenberg said: “I’m returning to the team I worked with back in 2013 and have fond memories of the strong team spirit in Switzerland. The prospect of competing for Audi is something very special. When a German manufacturer enters F1 with such determination, it’s a unique opportunity. To represent the factory team of such a car brand with a power unit made in Germany is a great honour for me.”

He added: “It‘s a big project with high ambitions and a huge challenge, a challenge that I am very much looking forward to. The conversations with Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann were very trustful, characterised by a lot of appreciation and mutual understanding regarding the common goals.”

Shortly before the Sauber announcement Haas confirmed that Hulkenberg will leave at the end of the 2024 season.

“I’d like to extend my thanks to Nico for his contributions to the team in the time that he’s been here with us,” said team boss Ayao Komatsu. “He’s been a great team player and someone we very much enjoy working with.

“His experience and feedback have proved invaluable to us in terms of improving our overall performance – a fact that’s clearly evident in both his qualifying and race performances in the VF-24 this season.

“There’s lots more racing to go this year so we look forward to continuing to benefit from his inputs throughout the remainder of the 2024 season.”

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July 23, 2015 · 11:37 am

Nasr and Ericsson to stay on at Sauber in 2016

Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson have both been confirmed as Sauber race drivers for 2016.

The news comes as no surprise given that both men bring substantial sponsorship to the Swiss team, but it does mean that Nasr is no longer a potential candidate for Williams, should Valtteri Bottas move to Ferrari. Nasr was the Williams third driver last year.

“This early point in time shows that the drivers and the team are sure they are heading in the right direction,” said team boss Monisha Kaltenborn. “We have full confidence in the talents and skills of Marcus and Felipe. Both have shown solid performances, gained experience and learnt quickly. We enjoy having them in the team and they give it a positive boost.”

“I had a great start from the very beginning,” said Ericsson. “And it is worth mentioning my first points in Formula One that I scored right away during the season-opener. I am getting to know everyone within the team more and more, and feel I am being appreciated as a valuable driver.”

“The extension to the contract with the Sauber F1 Team is an important step in my career,” said Nasr. “During the first half of the season, in what is my rookie year, I was able to gain a lot of experience from a driving perspective as well as on the personal side. Finishing fifth at my first ever Formula One race in Melbourne in the Australian Grand Prix is so far my career highlight. Now I am looking forward to the second half of the season. My objective is to support the team as best I can, and also with regard to the development of the new car.”

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April 14, 2015 · 9:59 am

Nasr keen to make points scoring a habit

Felipe Nasr followed up his fifth place in Melbourne with eighth in China as Sauber logged its second double finish of the season.

The Swiss team’s fortunes took a dip in Malaysia, where both Red Bull and STR scored well.

“It was great to be back in the points,” said the Brazilian. “That was the goal from the beginning of the race, although Toro Rosso and Lotus were much quicker than us. It was difficult to hold them back, and early on in the race I saw already they were super fast and it was difficult to keep them behind. And I think we extracted the maximum we have in the car, so we have to be satisfied.”

Felipe says Sauber has to target points in every race now.

“That’s what we have to aim for every time. What I can see is our car doesn’t seem to like the hot weather too much, so we’ve got to anticipate some changes for Bahrain already. Let’s try to keep it up.”

Meanwhile Nasr had some issues with cockpit comfort over the weekend: “It’s not really the shoulder, the HANS position was wrong. I got it fixed before the race. I think it was just in the wrong position.”

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March 14, 2015 · 1:30 am

Sauber seeking “mutually acceptable solution”

Sauber has broken its silence on the Giedo van der Garde affair, confirming that talks will continue next week.

Thus far the parties only agreed that the Dutchman would not stand in the way of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson and cancel any impending legal action in Australia, so the situation remains very fluid.

A short statement said: “The Sauber F1 Team can confirm it has been able to agree with Mr. Giedo Van der Garde that he refrains from driving in the Australian Formula One Grand Prix so it can keep its original planning. The Sauber F1 Team, Mr. Van der Garde and his management will continue to have constructive talks in order to find a mutually acceptable solution. The Sauber F1 Team is here to race in the Australian Formula One Grand Prix and that is what the team is now focusing on. In the course of next week we will be able to give more information.”

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March 13, 2015 · 3:07 pm

Van der Garde v Sauber – what happens next?

Discussions between the Giedo van der Garde camp and Sauber have no doubt been ongoing since Friday afternoon’s latest court hearing in Melbourne, and the hope on both sides is that an agreement can be reached overnight.

Van der Garde’s lawyer told the court that there had been “constructive discussions between the parties which are expected to continue this evening.”

The next step will occur when the court reconvenes at 9.30am on Saturday. If an agreement has been reached and both parties can satisfy the judge that everything has been sorted, that in theory should be the end of the matter, at least as far as the Melbourne weekend is concerned.

The big question is what form that agreement will take, as the problem of three drivers and two seats has not gone away. Logic suggests that the only realistic path would be a settlement which compensates van der Garde for forfeiting the seat. It’s common knowledge that his sponsors paid €8m for him to be a third driver last year as a lead in to a race seat in 2015, and any payment would presumably in effect represent a refund for that, possibly with some damages, legal costs and so on factored in on top.

As much as van der Garde genuinely wants to drive, there will be a point at which the figure offered by Sauber is sufficient for him to walk away from the team.

The big problem is of course that Sauber has long been in dire financial straits, and it simply doesn’t have a multi million sum sitting around. The van der Garde camp is obviously aware of that, and clearly would not sign up to any deal without receiving some form of guarantee or security. The obvious suspicion on their part would be that Sauber’s promises might not be backed up once the team escaped the clutches of the Australian legal system next week.

If no agreement can be reached by Saturday morning – and assuming van der Garde is not announced as a race driver for the rest of 2015 – then the likelihood is that the summons submitted by the Dutchman will be issued by the court. Sauber and Monisha Kaltenborn face charges of contempt of court.

On Friday Justice Croft mentioned an interim order, and that will probably mean that Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr are free to go ahead and compete for the rest of the weekend, but the cars would be seized by the court after the race, pending more court activity. An extra problem for Sauber is that the cars and equipment could miss the slot for the FOM cargo flight to Malaysia, and would potentially then have to find an alternative way to get there.

In addition action against Kaltenborn remains a real possibility, with the court having the power to seize her passport.

Despite the positive noises made by both sides on Friday, this story is far from over…

Details of the summons, including a call for Monisha Kaltenborn to be imprisoned, can be found here: https://adamcooperf1.com/2015/03/13/van-der-garde-side-requesting-prison-time-for-kaltenborn/

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March 13, 2015 · 8:44 am

Monisha Kaltenborn: “It’s a topic which I cannot talk about…”

Monisha Kaltenborn was not very chatty when she met the F1 media at today’s FIA press conference, and inevitably she ducked questions about the team’s current troubles.

The court case with Giedo van Garde is still ongoing, although the parties are now talking and could yet come to an agreement.

“That’s a topic I can’t say anything about,” she said when asked about the situation. “Just to make it clear I guess any questions about that I won’t be able to answer.”

Asked specifically about why both cars sat out the first session she said: “It’s a topic which I cannot talk about, that’s all I can say.”

Later however she did expand a little when asked about the impact on the team.

“It’s definitely a very negative impact on the team, because the situation was for a while unclear. We now have certain actions taken against the team, and we are acting accordingly. There’s nothing much more I can really say to that.”

She was also asked about her comments in Brazil when the multiple driver contract saga first started, and how she view it now: “We have a very clear view of what we did, we had taken action after a while, we thought about it very well, For us it as very clear. The outcome here is different, and that’s all I can say to it.”

She was also asked on several occasions about her capacity to run an F1 team, and if there were any doubts about her future.

“This whole matter doesn’t have any effect on the way we work, the way the team works.”

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March 13, 2015 · 6:51 am

Sauber case continues but agreement could be close

The Giedo van der Garde case will continue into Saturday after a short session in court this afternoon – but a resolution appears to be at hand.

The two sides are now clearly talking and attempting to come to a solution without the drama of bailiffs entering the paddock to seize the cars. A source told this writer that both sides are keen for the cars to race this weekend.

Van der Garde’s lawyer told the court that there had been “constructive discussions between the parties which are expected to continue this evening,” and Sauber’s legal representative concurred.

Meanwhile Justice Croft told both sides: “I do wish the parties to talk seriously about resolving this matter by agreement.”

Van der Garde was in the Sauber garage this morning after finally being given a team pass and hence paddock access, and he actually did a seat fitting in his overalls. However, he does not have a superlicence.

Meanwhile after the team opted to miss the first session Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson then took to the track in FP2, reflecting the fact that there appears to be a more positive outlook.

Everyone will be back in court at 0930 on Saturday, and it’s possible that the two sides will tell the judge that they have come to some sort of resolution.

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