Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg to pave the way for Audi in Formula 1
Image: Keystone
With his experience, 37-year-old Hülkenberg should make the Sauber team more competitive again
Image: Keystone
At the season opener on Sunday, Hülkenberg surprised everyone by finishing seventh and scoring six championship points for Sauber
Image: Keystone
One of six rookies in Formula 1: Gabriel Bortoleto. The 20-year-old Brazilian is a new driver for Sauber
Image: Keystone
Sauber's new team principal Jonathan Wheatley (far left) has already celebrated great success with Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull
Image: Keystone
Once team principal at Ferrari and now pulling the strings at Sauber: Mattia Binotto
Image: Keystone
Long-time team manager Beat Zehnder is convinced that Hülkenberg can take Sauber a long way forward
Image: Keystone
Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg to pave the way for Audi in Formula 1
Image: Keystone
With his experience, 37-year-old Hülkenberg should make the Sauber team more competitive again
Image: Keystone
At the season opener on Sunday, Hülkenberg surprised everyone by finishing seventh and scoring six championship points for Sauber
Image: Keystone
One of six rookies in Formula 1: Gabriel Bortoleto. The 20-year-old Brazilian is a new driver for Sauber
Image: Keystone
Sauber's new team principal Jonathan Wheatley (far left) has already celebrated great success with Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull
Image: Keystone
Once team principal at Ferrari and now pulling the strings at Sauber: Mattia Binotto
Image: Keystone
Long-time team manager Beat Zehnder is convinced that Hülkenberg can take Sauber a long way forward
Image: Keystone
After last year's disastrous performance, the Sauber 2025 Formula 1 team is hoping for improvement. Nico Hülkenberg's 7th place at the start of the season in Melbourne is a ray of hope.
16.03.2025, 12:06
16.03.2025, 12:32
SDA
Admittedly, Sauber's confidence was not very high in the run-up to the 2025 world championship season when it came to making a forecast for the last year before Audi officially joins the team. After all, the Zurich-based racing team finished last in 2024 and only scored its first points in the penultimate race. With the regulations remaining almost unchanged, no quantum leaps are to be expected before the major reform in 2026.
Cautious optimism before the start of the season
After the difficult winter tests, Sauber's CEO Mattia Binotto logically expressed little optimism. "If everything goes normally, the two McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes alone, as well as Sainz and Gasly, will snatch the ten points from us," the Lausanne-born Italian calculated in an interview with Blick. And he added: "A quick points finish would certainly help our team."
Binotto's wish came true on the opening weekend. Nico Hülkenberg did what a driver from an underdog team has to do in the Australian Grand Prix: He struck when the competition fumbled. While others made mistakes in the rain on the treacherous Albert Park Circuit, the 37-year-old German remained flawless and finished seventh in the points thanks to the team's clever tire strategy. "We managed to pit at exactly the right moment before the others. Sometimes you just have to be lucky," said Hülkenberg, summing up his first race after returning to Sauber, having previously driven a season for the Hinwil-based outfit in 2013.
Sauber is hoping that the veteran will be able to use his experience to help the team make good progress. Hülkenberg has proven that he can do this. Over the past two years at Haas, he has been able to contribute in such a way that the team has climbed from last place to seventh in the world championship.
Gabriel Bortoleto, the 17 years younger team-mate from Brazil, who won the Formula 2 championship last year (like Hülkenberg in 2009), should ultimately also benefit from Hülkenberg's experience. On his Formula 1 debut, the South American paid his dues on Sunday and, like numerous other drivers, retired in the rain chaos.
A step in the right direction
Sauber is full of praise for Hülkenberg. "He is extremely calm in the car. He never gets nervous. That's what sets him apart," enthused long-time team manager Beat Zehnder in a Sky interview about the man who is still waiting for his first podium finish after 228 grands prix in Formula 1 and thus holds an inglorious record.
Zehnder spoke on Sunday of a "big step forward". The team is certainly not yet ready to compete regularly for the championship points. "But we are continuing to focus on tackling the challenges we have faced to ensure that we can consistently fight for points."
Hülkenberg signed a multi-year contract with Sauber. It is intended to facilitate Audi's entry into Formula 1. The project of the car brand with the four rings is designed for the long term, but with big goals. "Our goal is to fight for the world championship in 2030," team boss Binotto recently made a bold statement in an interview with "auto motor und sport".
Jonathan Wheatley new team principal from April 1
In order to be on a par with the top teams, further personnel upgrades are to be made at the Hinwil plant in the coming years. From April 1, Jonathan Wheatley will take over from Binotto as Team Principal. The Englishman, who will be at the helm for the first time at the Japanese Grand Prix, previously spent 18 years as sports director at Red Bull.
But more personnel is no guarantee of success in Formula 1, as Binotto knows. "It's not enough just to hire new people. They have to grow together to form a team, a community," explains the former Ferrari team boss.
Results such as Hülkenberg's unexpected 7th place are like a balm for the team's soul after the difficult last few months - and an additional source of motivation on the long road to the top.
