Sauber F1 impressed in Bahrain, yet Nico Hülkenberg remains unsure of its true standing as the competitive hierarchy remains unclear.
Nico Hülkenberg is pleased to have familiarized himself with Sauber F1 and the C45 over the three days of testing in Sakhir. The German driver gathered a wealth of data and believes he will be well-prepared for the season opener in Melbourne.
“Three fast days—they feel both long and short!” Hülkenberg said. “It’s good to get a feel for the car and start working with my new team. It’s intense, a lot of laps, a lot of data, and it’s great to have a week off to digest everything.”
“We’ll analyze it all and start the season in two weeks in Melbourne. I’m looking forward to it; the tests went well. I have no idea where we stand, but we wanted to establish a solid baseline with the car, understand how the setup changes work, and we’ve ticked those boxes.”
Sauber has a steep climb ahead after 2024, but Hülkenberg remains confident: “There are always many areas to work on. We’re coming from further back, we have aspects to develop, but we are strong! I don’t know—we need to measure ourselves against the competition, and then we’ll see.”
He already feels well integrated into the team: “We’ve been working together since January, spending a lot of time at the factory and in the simulator. We’re making good progress, and I enjoy working with everyone in the team, with Mattia. When you change teams, you have to discover many things compared to your previous team—it’s a new relationship!”
He also gets along well with his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, whom he praises for his performance: “We get along really well. He’s a great guy, a smart kid, and very fast! He learns quickly, and I’m looking forward to working alongside him.”
The Brazilian was also behind the wheel and is pleased to have made progress in his program. He detailed the challenge that such a workload represents for a rookie.
“It was three good days of testing—one and a half for me, three for the team. I’m happy with what I achieved, I have a lot of data to analyze, and I’m adapting to the team and my new engineer, so these have been positive days,” Bortoleto said.
Now, he turns his focus to his Formula 1 debut: “Two weeks is a short time, but it’s amazing—I’ll soon be racing in my first Formula 1 Grand Prix. I’ll go to Switzerland to spend time in the simulator, check if the correlation is right with what we saw in testing, and keep working until the Australian Grand Prix.”
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Hülkenberg Uncertain on Sauber’s Strength After Bahrain Test Hülkenberg Uncertain on Sauber’s Strength After Bahrain Test
