2025 United States Grand Prix – Sunday
Austin, 19 October 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber returned to the points-scoring positions at the United States Grand Prix, as Nico Hulkenberg finally got the reward his impressive weekend deserved as he finished in P8. In a tense race at the Circuit of the Americas, Nico – starting from P11 – kept his nose clean in the opening stages and made up three places to bring home four valuable points for the team.
Gabriel Bortoleto, starting from P16, had a solid opening part of the race, starting on an alternate strategy and making up positions ahead of his pit stop: however, his challenge suffered in the closing stages, and he crossed the line in P18.
The four points secured over the weekend bring the team’s total to 59 – surpassing the 57-point mark from 2022 and setting a new benchmark for the team in the hybrid era. The objective now is to keep raising the bar as we head to Mexico next week.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “An outstanding performance by Nico all weekend. It makes you wonder what the story might have been if turn one in the Sprint had gone smoothly too. He was a class act — composed, fast, and faultless in very tough conditions. On the other side of the garage, it was a frustrating afternoon for Gabi. We missed an opportunity under the Virtual Safety Car and with an equipment issue causing a slow first stop that set us back. We tried an aggressive strategy late on, but it didn’t quite pay off. Two very different stories this weekend: one to celebrate and one to learn from. But that’s racing, and we move forward to Mexico with plenty of encouragement for everyone involved.”
Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
Race result: 8th
Fastest lap: 1:38.372 (Lap 54)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) – Lap 33 (New Soft)
“I’m really happy to finish the race with points. We’ve shown great pace all weekend, right from FP1. With the incident in the sprint yesterday, we didn’t get the chance to show what we could do, so it felt great to have another shot today. The race was clean, well-executed on multiple fronts, and we were determined to make the most of it. The whole team deserves this result for the work they’ve put in. Now onto Mexico!”
Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
Race result: 18th
Fastest lap: 1:38.275 (Lap 39)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Soft) – Lap 14 (New Medium) – Lap 36 (New Soft)
"It's been a rather uneventful race for me. We possibly could have done something different under the Virtual Safety Car, but starting from the back always makes things tough, especially if you do not have a big advantage on those in fronts of you, which was the case today. Overall, it's been a challenging weekend. Still, I want to thank the team for the work done throughout the sessions, listening to my feedback and trying to get me in the best possible position to perform. We'll take the learnings from this weekend, understand what we could have done better, keep our head up and move onto the next one."