The Formula 1 winter break has now well and truly begun, with more than two months until pre-season testing starts in Bahrain.
The team which arguably has the most work to do before the 2025 campaign begins is Sauber.
After three seasons of working alongside Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, it was decided that change was needed.
The Swiss team – who will become Audi in 2026 – have gambled on signing Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto for next year.
Bortoleto has already impressed Sauber staff but is by far the least experienced of the rookies confirmed to be on the grid next year.
He’ll be joined by the much more experienced Nico Hulkenberg who is still on the hunt for his first podium finish in Formula 1.
The German driver was one of the standout stars of the F1 midfield this year, narrowly missing out on a top-10 finish in the Drivers’ Championship.
A report from Blick has now shared more details about Hulkenberg’s first run in a Sauber since leaving the team in 2013.
They believe he’s already surpassed what Bottas was capable of producing in the same car.
Nico Hulkenberg was already faster than Valtteri Bottas in Sauber’s post-season test
Hulkenberg was quickly on the money last week during the nine-hour post-season test in Abu Dhabi after the final Grand Prix of the 2024 season.
He finished with the fourth-fastest time of the day – a 1:23.856 – finishing behind Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz in his Williams and George Russell.
Bortoleto set a 1:24.738, finishing 18th in the standings, marginally ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Hulkenberg was testing the 2025 Pirelli tyres, while Bortoleto was simply testing the 2024 car as it raced in Abu Dhabi just a couple of days before.
READ MORE: Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin
The report from Blick suggests that any results from testing should be ‘approached with caution’.
However, Sauber engineers were able to make some comparisons and ‘learned’ that Hulkenberg was 0.3 seconds faster than Bottas when their cars were under the same conditions.
Bottas admitted staying at Sauber was a mistake which is said to have not gone down well with the team.
Their staff will therefore be very pleased that they’ve potentially brought in a driver who can extract even more potential out of their car.
Nico Hulkenberg is banking on Audi to finally break his podium duck
Hulkenberg has committed his future to Sauber and Audi for the next two seasons, meaning he’ll be on the grid for the next set of regulations where the order of the grid could theoretically be mixed up.
Sauber couldn’t give Hulkenberg branded overalls, but he’ll be desperate to start testing to work out where in the pecking order he’s going to slot into.
Fernando Alonso thinks Bortoleto could be F1’s fastest rookie and while he may need some time to acclimate to Formula 1, it won’t be long until he’s challenging Hulkenberg.
READ MORE: Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg’s life outside F1 from wife to height
The German is an expert qualifier and developing that one-lap pace isn’t going to be easy for Bortoleto.
Ultimately, both drivers know that they’re working towards 2026 when Audi take over as a works team.
Audi may already be behind schedule with their 2026 car, and they’ll be hoping that the new investment they’ve received from the Qatar Investment Authority will help accelerate their work.
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