Sauber End of Year Report: A resurgent last hurrah
- Maham Mir
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Meghana Sree
With another year of Formula One action in the books, our writers review each F1 team’s 2025 campaign and assess their performance across the season. Sauber enjoyed a change of fortune in 2025 with a new team principal and driver pairing capable of scoring consistent points and a headline-worthy podium. Here’s their end of year report.
Although the term ‘resurgence’ is often reserved for teams that move from the back of the grid to the front, Sauber’s performance in 2025 compared to 2024 deserves no other label and their difference in points says everything you need to know. While they only moved up one place in the standings from P10 to P9, the difference between their four points in 2024 and their 70 points in 2025 is a better indication of their season overall.
With the new driver pairing of Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, one of the four rookies on the grid in 2025, Sauber took a gamble by entirely changing their previous driver line-up of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. However, it’s fair to say that it’s a gamble that paid off especially under the leadership of new Team Principal, Jonathan Wheatley.
With their P9 finish, they were only nine points behind Haas in P8. In the World Drivers’ Championship, Hülkenberg finished P11 with 51 points, his joint-best finish in the standings since his full-time return in 2022. Comparatively, his rookie teammate Bortoleto finished P19 with 19 points.
Drivers’ Head to Head Performance
Despite the world of experience between the two drivers, their head-to-head across the board demonstrated a fair match. The only drastic difference between the pair was on points, partly helped by Hülkenberg’s sensational podium in Silverstone.
In terms of qualifying, Bortoleto got the edge over his teammate. In the Grand Prix format, the Brazilian rookie emerged narrowly ahead having out-qualified his teammate 13-12 — this takes into consideration Bortoleto’s lack of participation in Grand Prix qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix. They were joint on 3-3 in qualifying for the sprint.
For races, it was Hülkenberg who emerged narrowly ahead by 12-11 with no number awarded for the Bahrain Grand Prix after the German driver had been disqualified. However, the statistics for sprints put Bortoleto firmly in the lead with 4-2.
In the end, the overall championship standings show a clear winner with the experienced German driver getting the better of his rookie teammate. Hülkenberg’s P11 finish puts him eight places ahead of Bortoleto in P19.
Best Moments
One of the standout moments of the season, not just for Sauber but across the grid, was seeing Hülkenberg finally step onto an F1 podium for the first time in his career. After 239 races in the sport, the record number of Grand Prix starts without a podium, Hülkenberg’s consistency combined with Sauber’s efforts paid off in Silverstone’s changing weather conditions.
Battling Lewis Hamilton until the very final lap of the race, Hülkenberg’s drive in Silverstone was one of the best of his season and undoubtedly of his career as well. Having qualified P19 for the race, it was one of the best recovery drives across the entire grid this year.
Speaking about the podium, Hülkenberg stated: “Starting from last on the grid and finishing on the podium honestly feels kind of surreal. [...] It’s been a great team effort from start to finish, and I am really proud of what we achieved together."
On the other side of the garage, Bortoleto’s highest finishing position of P6 was one of the best moments of his rookie season, which he achieved at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
During the 70 lap race at the Hungaroring, Bortoleto found himself defending and racing against his manager, Fernando Alonso, and four-time world champion, Max Verstappen. Both drivers were full of praise for the rookie’s skills after the end of the race.
Discussing the milestone, Bortoleto stated: “I’m so happy with this result, it’s our best so far and it shows the amazing job we’re doing as a team. We’ve been making the right steps in the right direction, and this is just the beginning of what we can achieve together.”
Worst Moments
Although the team’s momentum certainly picked up in the lead up to the summer break, they did not enjoy the easiest start to the season. Between Round 2 to Round 8, the team did not score a single point and thus remained P10 in the WCC, where the team finished in 2024.
One particular low point for Hülkenberg, in only the fourth race of the season, was being disqualified from the Bahrain Grand Prix due to excessive wear on the rear skidblock of his car. Although the German driver did not finish within the top 10 at the chequered flag, the result must still have been a blow to the team’s confidence.
Meanwhile, despite the highs of rookie season including a respectable haul of points, there can be no doubt that Bortoleto had his fair share of woes in his maiden F1 season. With five DNFs to his name, including a high-speed crash at his home race in São Paulo, the 2024 F2 champion struggled to maintain the consistency of his teammate at times.
On occasions like Silverstone where his teammate was on the podium or Spain and Canada where his teammate scored necessary points, Bortoleto was unable to match his performance. However, given that it was his rookie season, it would be unfair to criticise him for inconsistency too much.
Looking Ahead
The Sauber name leaves the world of F1 after 33 years in the sport as the team transitions into Audi ahead of 2026 with its new set of regulations.
After the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Team Principal Wheatley stated: “The progress this team has made this year is significant and provides us with real momentum heading into 2026.”
With their ability to be competitive clearly demonstrated, especially towards the end of 2025, and its Audi collaboration arriving with great promise, there’s no telling what new heights the Sauber team will reach in 2026 and beyond.
