Is this F1's worst car again in 2025?
New Sauber signing casts optimistic eye on 2025 season
Nico Hulkenberg says the Sauber Formula 1 car he drove last December in the post-season Abu Dhabi test “wasn’t far off” the performance of the Haas he campaigned in 2024.
The Sauber squad - which will be rebranded as Audi in 2026 - endured a miserable 2024 campaign as it languished at the back of the constructors’ world championship all year.
It managed just a single points finish after Zhou Guanyu was eighth in the Qatar GP, bringing its tally for the year to four - 13 points behind ninth-placed Williams.
Sauber has refreshed its line-up for 2025, bringing in Hulkenberg from Haas alongside reigning Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.
Ahead of Tuesday’s 2025 F1 launch event at the O2 in London, Hulkenberg noted that the Sauber’s Las Vegas upgrade package was “a big step forward” and feels the performance of the car he tested was at a good level compared to what he came from at Haas.
“Yeah, obviously those problems were mainly in the first quarter of last season and I think they’ve really worked through most of them already last year,” he said when asked how he felt Sauber was doing operationally after a difficult 2024.
“But there’s always room for improvement. I think on he operational side things were pretty good by the end.
“Obviously car performance, that’s a different subject.
“But having done the Abu Dhabi test I was not surprised but I think the car performance wasn’t that bad, wasn't that far off from what I was previously used to.
“I think the update that they brought to Las Vegas last year was a big step forward for them and you can see the trend was in the right trajectory.
“And that’s obviously what we’re going to try to do and continue this season.”
Sauber’s Las Vegas floor upgrade was introduced with the intention of it forming the foundations of its 2025 car, with the update improving braking stability and increasing overall downforce levels.
The team’s only points for the year came at the following round in Qatar.
Hulkenberg’s final year with the Haas squad saw him finish 11th in the drivers’ standings on 41 points, with a best finish of sixth in Austria and Great Britain.
The Haas team finished seventh in the constructors’ table, 54 points clear of last-placed Sauber.
Quotes provided by Crash F1 Editor Lewis Larkam
