“Doom and gloom” as F1 2025’s “slowest car” is pointed out

The slowest car for the 2025 F1 season has been pointed out.

Sauber, who endured a miserable 2024, are set to remain at the back when the new season begins with the F1 Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16.

They will have a new-look driver line-up in ex-Haas veteran Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

They replaced Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou who scored a combined four points last year as they toiled away at the back, eventually losing their race seats as a result.

Audi will eventually take over the team from 2026 onwards when the new F1 regulations are in place.

But there is very little to shout about at Sauber after F1 pre-season testing hinted at their pace.

'Doom and gloom' for Sauber in F1 2025

“So far it doesn’t look too positive,” Connor McDonagh told the Crash F1 podcast.

“If you’re Bottas or Zhou, you are happy that you’re not driving the car.

“It looks like the slowest car in testing.

“It didn’t look great at handling. There was understeer, too.

“It will be another difficult year for Sauber. I think with Audi coming in 2026 they [think] ‘we can wait until next year’.

“But Sauber haven’t proven they can build a chassis that can compete with the top four or five teams.

“It will be another season at the back, and a difficult year for Hulkenberg and Bortoleto.

“To be fair to Bortoleto, despite the car being difficult to drive, he had a solid test. He was steady on track. He looked okay.

“But the car is too slow. It will be a very long season.

“It was a disappointing test overall. There were no quick lap times.

“Bortoleto’s race pace was over a second off Lando Norris’.

“There will be a lot of Q1 exits for Bortoleto, it will be another disappointing season.

“You can’t just wait for Audi to come in. It will be the same people, at the same factory, building the car. And they haven’t proven that they can build a car or develop a car.

“It’s all doom and gloom.”

This is the final year of the current rules cycle in F1, meaning the field could be closer than in the past few seasons.

That will give Sauber hope that they can improve upon the measly four points scored in 2024.

But with a pair of new drivers - Hulkenberg who was in great form last season, and the highly-touted Bortoleto - there will be some early optimism.

That could be dashed in Australia if the true performance of the Sauber falls behind their rivals again.