2025 Miami Grand Prix – Saturday

Miami, 3 May 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber claimed a place in Q2 in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix as Gabriel Bortoleto delivered a strong performance at the Hard Rock Stadium to set the 13th fastest time of the session. On a busy day that saw conditions swing from heavy rain at the beginning of the Sprint to sun and heat for qualifying, the team finished on a high and set itself up for an interesting race tomorrow. On the other side of the garage, Nico Hulkenberg came close to reaching Q2 as well, but the chance of getting both cars through slipped away by a narrow margin. He will start from 16th on the grid.

The day had started with a downpour, which heavily affected the Sprint. In a delayed, 100-km race that saw plenty of incidents and penalties being applied, Nico and Gabriel managed to stay out of trouble to finish 9th and 15th respectively – Nico missing out on a point by just one position.

Today’s performance gives the team confidence ahead of tomorrow’s showpiece: one further chance to battle within the midfield under the Florida sun.

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “Today’s Sprint was busy. The race started in wet conditions, and while Nico didn’t quite get the start he was hoping for, both drivers navigated the first lap cleanly. In retrospect, we might have benefited from a more aggressive call onto dry tyres, but most importantly, we brought both cars home without damage—Nico in P12 and Gabriel in P15. Qualifying was a relatively smooth session. Nico couldn’t quite piece together a full lap and finished P16, but Gabriel delivered a very strong performance in both Q1 and Q2, narrowly missing out on Q3 by just two tenths. Overall, it’s been a positive day—particularly for Gabriel—and a solid foundation for the rest of the weekend.”

Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
Sprint: 9th

Fastest lap: 1:42.871 (Lap 5)
Strategy and Pit Stops: Start (Intermediate) – Lap 12 (Medium Used)

Q1: 16th / 1:27.473 (9 laps)

“Today has not been the best Saturday. After the promising performance in yesterday’s Sprint qualifying, I didn’t meet my expectations for both the Sprint and for qualifying. In the Sprint I lost ground in the first lap, which made it very difficult to recover in such a short event, even though I ended up in P9 after a few penalties to other drivers. Turning to this afternoon’s qualifying session, Q2 would have been possible: however, on my last lap, the rear of my car snapped a bit at the exit of Turn One and I lost two to three tenths of a second, bringing less momentum into the long straight. I tried to make up the time in the last sector, which unfortunately didn't work out. Now we have to look ahead and prepare for the race.”

Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
Sprint: 15th

Fastest lap: 1:42.989 (Lap 6)
Strategy and Pit Stops: Start (Intermediate) – Lap 12 (Medium Used)

Q1: 1:27.343 (9 laps)

Q2: 13th / 1:27.151 (6 laps)
 

“I’m genuinely happy to be back in Q2 with a solid performance after some tough rounds in which I wasn’t able to show our full potential, but there’s still a tinge of frustration as I think we had a chance to be even higher – perhaps even in Q3. Today felt like a step forward – the team did a great job with the car, I felt comfortable and able to build confidence throughout the session, run after run. My second push in Q1 was probably the best lap I’ve done all weekend; the car was in the perfect window. I made a small mistake in my final Q2 run, but no one ever puts together a perfect lap here. Overall, it was a decent job. Most importantly, I feel we were able to put it all together in qualifying and show the pace we have, which is something we haven’t been able to do consistently so far this season. To do so today and show what the team, the car, and I are capable of means a lot. Now the focus is on tomorrow: starting P13, with a chance of rain and a few surprises likely, everything is possible. Others have scored points from these places on the grid, so we’ll give it everything tomorrow and aim to bring home a strong result."