Formula One News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Nico Hulkenberg anticipates challenging season with Sauber

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports
By Jaden Diaz-Ndisang | Last updated Jan 3, 2025 5:20 PM ET

Nico Hulkenberg put together another impressive campaign in 2024, leading Haas to 7th place in the standings. Having signed a multi-year deal with Sauber, Hulkenberg is ready for an intense season in the midfield.

Hulkenberg: “There is work ahead” for Sauber

Since returning to F1 with Haas, there can be few criticisms of Hulkenberg’s performances.

The German driver consistently maximises the machinery at his disposal, both in qualifying and race trim.

Magic laps to make it into Q3 have become common for Hulkenberg, who secured a brilliant 4th in his final qualifying session with Haas at Abu Dhabi.

His race pace is also at an extremely high level, allowing him to regularly finish in the top 10. These strengths made him an invaluable asset for Haas, who did their best to keep him at the team.

Unfortunately for Ayao Komatsu, Hulkenberg secured his future relatively early last season signing a multi-year deal with Sauber.

At the time, Haas were only beginning their recovery from finishing 10th place in 2023. Had the 37-year-old waited slightly longer before putting pen to paper, perhaps he would have thought twice about joining Sauber.

To be clear, Audi’s takeover of the Swiss team will trigger significant investment over the coming years.

Hulkenberg was undoubtedly attracted by the prospect of driving for an engine manufacturer. With that said, Sauber were at the bottom of the pile last season.

Points were generally beyond reach for the Hinwil-based outfit, who were often at the very back of the field.

Looking ahead to 2025, Hulkenberg is aware that competition will be fierce:

“The air is very thin like we saw now,” Motorsportweek quotes him as saying.

“Alpine is back, probably Aston [Martin] will come back. So yeah, it’s going to be tough and I think there is work ahead, no doubt.

“But lately, you know, it’s looked a bit brighter.

“It looked like the Vegas update for them [Sauber] did something and put them on the right track, in the right direction.”

Sauber/Audi must progress

As Hulkenberg mentions, the final rounds of the season were positive for Sauber.

Upgrades introduced at the Las Vegas GP created an instant impact, with both cars passing through to Q2 at the US track.

Zhou Guanyu’s P8 at the Qatar GP was a big milestone for the team, who avoided the nightmare scenario of going an entire season without scoring points.

Aside from the result itself, Zhou and Bottas were competitive throughout the last races of the year.

Sauber managed to put themselves firmly in the midfield battle, a significant improvement to their form during the majority of 2024.

With Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel this year, there is reason for the Swiss team to be optimistic about taking a step forward. Assuming they can maintain their late-season trajectory, the next twelve months should be more encouraging.

Then again, looking at the bigger picture, this year is not necessarily the priority.

As outlined by Mattia Binotto, Audi face significant obstacles to produce a competitive power unit in 2026. The German constructor are working diligently behind the scenes to catch F1’s more established manufacturers.

In this context, Hulkenberg will be an invaluable source of stability as the team works to climb the field.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: