2025 Austrian Grand Prix – Friday

Spielberg, 27 June 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a busy opening day of track action at the Austrian Grand Prix, with early indications of promise but also the knowledge that plenty of work remains to be done. The team took the chance to evaluate its new parts in the two practice sessions, with Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg putting their C45 to the test.

Gabriel had a strong day, spent consistently within the top ten positions; Nico, on the other side of the garage, had a slightly more challenging Friday: the team will now regroup, analyse its data – particularly in relation to the new floor, that made its debut on the cars today – and fine-tune the setup ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
FP1: 12th / 1:06.140 (32 laps)
FP2: 19th / 1:05.918 (35 laps)

“It was one of those Fridays where things didn’t quite come together. We switched to the updated floor for FP2 and experimented with a few setup directions, but they didn’t yield the improvements we were hoping for. The car felt a bit off in terms of grip and balance, so overall, not the smoothest session. But that’s what Fridays are for – gathering data, trying things, and learning. I’m confident we’ll be able to analyse everything tonight and make the right adjustments ahead of qualifying. Gabriel showed strong pace today, which shows the potential of the car and gives us a solid benchmark. We’ll dig into the data now and aim to unlock more performance tomorrow.”

 

Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
FP1: 6th / 1:05.874 (35 laps)
FP2: 8th / 1:05.411 (31 laps)

"Today has been a really positive day. The team did a great job with the upgrades - they seem to be working in the right direction, and I am feeling more and more comfortable in the car every time I jump in. I have always loved this circuit; it has been good to me since F4, F3, F2 – throughout every step. From lap one today, it felt good out there. Of course, we are very mindful this is still Friday, and there are still things to work on here and there, like always, but it feels like we are building something, step by step. If we keep this pace, I really hope we can fight for my first Q3 of the season. We will be going through the feedback we gathered today, keep pushing and see what we can achieve tomorrow."