The beginning of the 2025 Formula 1 season is just around the corner and excitement is building ahead of the first race of the year.
Hosting duties for the season opener have been handed back to the Australian Grand Prix after several years of the campaign beginning in Bahrain.
Although the Bahrain International Circuit won’t kick off the season, it did just host three days of pre-season testing.
It was apparent that the current regulations are about to come to an end due to the lack of reliability issues every team faced this year.
Red Bull completed the least ditance but their tally of 304 laps was still relatively impressive, even if Mercedes led the way with 458 laps driven by George Russell and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
McLaren impressed everyone in the paddock with their performance and while that’s no guarantee of success when they head to Australia it will give Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri a degree of confidence.
Championships can’t be won during testing but they can certainly be lost and several teams will already know that they’ve got no chance of challenging for victories in 2025.
Ted Kravitz delivered a worrying verdict on Aston Martin who will hope the arrival of Adrian Newey gives them a boost going into next year.
Haas and Racing Bulls didn’t stand out with their performances, but it was clear that Sauber were way off the pace.
A refreshed driver pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto will give their fans something to smile about ahead of Audi’s imminent takeover next year.
However, Guenther Steiner was speaking to RTL in the build-up to the start of the season and admitted that he felt sorry for Hulkenberg after witnessing his performance in Bahrain.
Guenther Steiner felt ‘sorry’ for Sauber star Nico Hulkenberg during testing
Steiner was asked by the German broadcaster to give his verdict on the country’s only current F1 driver after three days of running in Bahrain and said: “Yeah I haven’t written [to him] yet because I don’t want to be the ambassador of bad news.
“So, I’m going to visit him because I’m going to see Mattia [Binotto] in Australia as well but yeah Sauber in they look like they’re in last place.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Sauber from team principal to 2026 Audi future
“You can see that McLaren is in front. But, you can actually see pretty clearly that I’m sorry because I’ve had to go through this a few times now and have to start all over again.
“But for him, it’s just this hope that next year when it’s the Audi works team then they’ll have to start climbing the mountain otherwise he’ll struggle.”
Nico Hulkenberg delivers Sauber testing verdict after Haas move
Hulkenberg was one of the first drivers last year to announce he was switching teams, departing Haas for Sauber.
After the American team finished bottom of the constructors’ championship the year before, it didn’t look like the worst decision, but they made huge strides forward in 2024 under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu.
Sauber, on the other hand, look like they’re in real trouble and Audi have their work cut out to not be at the back of the grid next year upon their F1 debut.
READ MORE: Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg’s life outside F1 from wife to height
Hulkenberg was asked about his testing experience and said: “I think testing’s been OK. Obviously, I have no idea where we are to be honest, but it’s more about finding a good starting point with the car, understanding how setup changes work, all these kind of basic things.
“And I think we ticked those boxes so we’ll see what we get in Melbourne.”
Ted Kravitz was worried about Hulkenberg’s body language during testing, while David Croft admitted the noises he had heard from Sauber weren’t positive going into an important season for the team.
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