Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto praise Sauber’s progress in 2025 ahead of Audi transformation

Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have both praised the impressive progress displayed by Kick Sauber in 2025 ahead of their transformation into Audi next season.

Sitting seventh in the Teams’ Standings, Sauber have seen themselves move up in the table following a number of noteworthy performances, with both drivers earning points in Austria while Hulkenberg secured his first ever podium finish in F1 at Silverstone on his 239th Grand Prix start.

The Hinwil-based outfit now sit on 51 points, just one point behind Aston Martin in sixth and 19 points behind Williams.

After showing consistent progress during the first half of the season, Sauber have now taken points in each of the final six races up until the break – a stark difference to the 2024 season as the team finished last in the standings with just four points.

The Hungarian Grand Prix marked the final race before F1’s traditional summer break in August, where Hulkenberg and Borteleto were both asked during the weekend to sum up the first half of his season so far.

Speaking in the media pen ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, Hulkenberg said: “I think it’s been a very positive first half of the season up until the summer break, obviously since Barcelona we’ve really managed to turn things around.

“If you look where we started in winter testing compared to where we are now this is definitely good progress and a lot has happened since.”

On building for the future, the German has high hopes for the continued growth of the team and what can come next as they prepare for their transition into Audi for 2026.

“Obviously so many things change on the technical side next year and I think many people are in the dark and we can only really just speculate,” he added.

“But what is being built behind the scenes and the infrastructure, and the team structure that we’re building, that is growing. I think that looks good, [it] looks positive. Still a lot more to do if we look and compare ourselves to the top runners currently, but [we are] definitely going in the right direction.”

As one of six rookies on the track, Bortoleto’s season has improved as he continues to get more races under his belt.

With his sixth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix a testement to how far he has come, the Brazilian described the positive mood around the team ahead of the second half of the season.

“It has been only half a year and it feels like it has been some years; so many races we have done so far – it feels amazing,” he said.

“I’m super happy about how the season has been going so far, and how much I have learned this year, how much as a team we have progressed from where we started to where we are sitting right now. So honestly, I’m extremely happy.”

Despite having more confidence behind him due to his recent performances, the rookie believes there is still more to come from him in the final 10 races of the campaign.

“[There are] many areas to work on,” he continued. “I will keep them for me and I will work the best I can on them.

“But for sure, there are always a lot of things to improve and do better, and I’m looking forward to improving all these things. It’s fine-tuning here and there that can make me a much better driver.”