2025 Belgian Grand Prix – Friday

Spa-Francorchamps, 25 July 2025 – KICK Sauber F1 Team started its Belgian Grand Prix weekend in solid fashion as Gabriel Bortoleto progressed to the final segment of Sprint Qualifying, his maiden appearance in SQ3. The Brazilian, who eventually set the 10th fastest time, clocked the fastest time ever over one lap in Spa for a Hinwil-built car with 1:41.901 (in SQ2), while team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, finishing the session 17th.
 

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “Coming out of another competitive qualifying session for the team, in SQ1 Nico found himself up against the clock and a bit too close to the car ahead to capitalise on his second run, ending up in P17. Following a very clean run in SQ1, Gabi progressed through to SQ2, where he delivered a great lap, ending up just half-a-second off Norris. This was the fastest lap ever for a Sauber at Spa-Francorchamps with a 1:41.901. In SQ3, the lap time ultimately just didn’t come to Gabi, and we qualified P10 overall, a great position for the Sprint race tomorrow.”

Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
FP1: 14th / 1:43.470 (20 laps)
SQ1: 17th / 1:43.217 (6 laps)

“Sprint qualifying always comes with its own set of challenges – short format, one tyre set, and everything hinging on that first lap. Unfortunately, the initial run didn’t quite come together as planned. On the second attempt, I hit some traffic at the end of the warm-up lap and ended up closely following Liam, which compromised my lap. The tyres didn’t feel optimal at that point either, so overall, it just wasn’t enough. There’s work to do ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying for the race. We made some changes today after practice that moved us in the right direction, but there’s still more potential to unlock from the car. We'll analyse the data and aim to make the most of the Sprint.”

Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
FP1: 13th / 1:43.262 (25 laps)
SQ1: 1:42.806 (6 laps)

SQ2: 1:41.901 (3 laps)
SQ3: 10th / 1:42.176 (3 laps)
 

"I'm really happy to have made it into SQ3 today: of course, this is Sprint Qualifying, but the feeling of making it through is always good. The car felt solid throughout the session – I feel I could have even squeezed out something more in SQ3. But overall, it was a strong qualifying performance, and getting into the top ten is always encouraging. The car seems strong, so now we will need to see how the race pace holds up tomorrow. If we put everything together, we should be able to fight for those same positions in the next sessions."