2025 United States Grand Prix – Saturday
Austin, 18 October 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a mixed Sprint Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with no points to show for the performance displayed so far this weekend. In the Sprint Race, Nico Hulkenberg was unable to capitalise on his excellent fourth place starting position. The collision at turn one caused him to drop to last position, and required a costly pit stop to repair the damage. Back on the road he eventually finished 13th, two places behind team-mate, Gabriel Bortoleto, who ultimately finished up nine places over his starting position, but missed out on the points.
In Qualifying for tomorrow’s main event, Gabriel just missed out on a spot in Q2, setting the 16th fastest time of the session; Nico continued to show pace over the single lap around the Austin circuit, and was just shy of a place in the top ten – he'll line up in 11th place on the grid tomorrow, with a solid chance to be in the battle for the points from the very beginning of the race.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “It was one of the most dramatic Sprints we have seen in quite some time. Unfortunately, what looked like a chain reaction in Turn 1 took Nico out early, compromising his race and removing the opportunities of his strong starting position. Gabi managed to avoid all the incidents and brought the car home cleanly.
“In qualifying, Nico showed strong pace and was on course for Q3 before a wind-affected final sector cost him valuable time. Despite that setback, he will still start the race from P11. For Gabi, it is his first time racing here, and this is a track where experience can make a real difference. He has been struggling a bit with the balance of the car this weekend and will start tomorrow’s race from P16, aiming to make up positions. Both cars are in a solid position for the race, with everything to play for. Our goal remains the same as always: to fight for points. As we saw in the Sprint today, nothing can be taken for granted.”
Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
Sprint: 13th
Fastest lap: 1:39.069 (Lap 14)
Strategy and Pit Stops: Medium New
Q1: 1:33.551 (8 laps)
Q2: 11th / 1:33.334 (6 laps)
“The sprint was pretty much over after the incident in Turn 1, which was frustrating because it compromised the whole race and ended our chance of a good end result. It was good to get straight back in the car in the afternoon to reset, get it out of the system, and focus on qualifying. This is an amazing track to drive, and overall qualifying was decent. Unfortunately, the final lap was not as clean as it needed to be. I struggled a bit in the last sector where I hit some wind gusts, ultimately losing some time there. Starting from P11 tomorrow means we’re close to the points on a track where overtaking is possible.”
Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
Sprint: 11th
Fastest lap: 1:39.006 (Lap 8)
Strategy and Pit Stops: Medium New
Q1: 16th / 1:34.125 (8 laps)
"To be honest, it’s been a bit of a tough weekend so far. I’ve been struggling to find the pace, especially in the last sector —as I did not just have the same confidence in the car that I’ve had at previous events so far. The first and second sectors felt strong, but I couldn’t quite put it all together. Looking back to the Sprint, it’s been a bit chaotic with all those yellow flags and crashes, so it was good to bring the car back in one piece – it also gave us an extra chance to gather some more data when it comes to car balance. We’ve done some changes to the car ahead of Quali, and it felt like things are getting better, but I think I just needed a few more laps to really push to the limit and get a shot at Q2. It’s a new track for me, and I feel like I still have something to learn, so I just couldn’t extract everything today. We’ll learn from it and see how to maximise our chances to improve in tomorrow’s race.”