2025 Singapore Grand Prix – Sunday
Singapore, 5 October 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber endured a difficult race under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg finished 17th and 20th in the Singapore Grand Prix. Gabriel’s race was compromised at the start, as contact at turn one forced a stop for a new front wing that cost time and track position. Both he and Nico spent much of the race stuck in a DRS train behind their rivals, on a circuit where making up ground is extremely difficult without a clear pace or tyre advantage.
The team will return to action in two weeks’ time, at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “First of all I would like to congratulate McLaren on defending their title. For us, it was an incredibly frustrating race where very little went our way. Starting from P11, I genuinely believe we had the potential to score points today, and we shouldn’t shy away from that. With no safety cars, the race unfolded without many of the usual variables here in Singapore, and not a lot of opportunities. We’ll thoroughly review to make sure we learn from this weekend and take any lessons forward. That’s racing: the great thing about Formula One is that we get to race again in just two weeks.”
Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
Race result: 20th
Fastest lap: 1:35.404 (Lap 47)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) – Lap 26 (New Hard) – Lap 45 (New Soft)
“It wasn’t our day today. Without track position it’s always tough for us, especially on a street circuit like this where overtaking is nearly impossible unless you’ve got a big tyre advantage. In the end, when I got close to Franco [Colapinto], he braked quite early — a bit of a surprise — and I lost a lot of rear downforce, which caused a big lock-up and the spin. We’ll have to review the strategy, but overall, we didn’t quite have the pace this weekend. Still, even on tough days like this, there’s always something to learn and take things forward into the next races.”
Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
Race result: 17th
Fastest lap: 1:37.126 (Lap 16)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) – Lap 14 (New Hard)
“It definitely wasn’t the best race for us today. I picked up some damage on lap one after contact in Turn One — we went three-wide and unfortunately touched and broke the front wing. This forced us to pit to change it, which cost us some time, and from then on it was always going to be a difficult race. Our pace wasn’t the strongest and, once we fell behind Colapinto, we knew it would be hard to get back past — overtaking here is extremely difficult. I spent most of the race stuck behind him, which also allowed others to close in. Overall, it was just one of those days where things didn’t quite go our way. Still, we’ll take the positives from the weekend, learn what we can, and move on. The team keeps working really hard, both here and at HQ, and we’re all determined to get back to scoring points.”