Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto will line up 16th and 17th on the grid, respectively, for the 2025 F1 Japanese GP, after a somewhat disappointing qualifying session in which both Sauber drivers believe more was on offer if the laps had been executed better.
Hülkenberg was the lead Sauber on the grid for a second consecutive weekend, but missed out on a place in Q2 by just 0.016s to Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.
Costly error for Hulkenberg out of turn nine made all the difference
The German believes he could have got to Q2 with a cleaner lap, and explained how a single snap oversteer out of turn nine (Degner two) cost him a tenth of a second, which would have made all the difference:
“[It was] a bit tricky. Yeah, tricky, with the finest of margins again,” the German said in the print media zone after the session. “I feel Q2 was definitely on the table. It was two hundredths to make it through. And [I’m] not entirely happy with the lap.
“Obviously, [I had] a moment, you know, I dropped a tenth out of turn nine with an oversteer.”
When asked to further expand on some of the issues he faced in the session, Hülkenberg explained how the wind direction changed overnight from Friday to Saturday, and had a negative impact in the balance of his C45:
“It’s just balance and it’s been tricky. And the wind direction changed.
“It changed 180 degrees to yesterday. It made things trickier from my point of view with the car, with the balance. And it kind of didn’t help a bit [compared to] yesterday.
“But, obviously, it’s the same for everyone. You know, we can’t influence the wind.”
Possible race day rain brings “opportunity” for Sauber
Looking ahead to the race, the German believes the chance of rain will bring an opportunity to score again for Sauber – after successfully capitalising on the tricky weather conditions in Melbourne to secure a brilliant seventh place – but he is aware that the result in Australia was heavily dependent on circumstances, which might not be the case at the F1 Japanese GP:
“The conditions look challenging. Let’s see what we get. But, you know, everyone seems to be pretty certain that it’s going to be wet at some point at least, which obviously brings opportunity,” he said. “But [it’s] also challenging around here. So, we just have to do a good job, stay clean and execute well.
“Melbourne was very particular circumstances. Circumstances towards the end of the race, really helped us to get a result.
“Without that, we didn’t look that special.”
Bortoleto admits his final lap wasn’t “magical”…
As for Bortoleto, the young Brazilian shared a similar feeling to his veteran teammate. He believes that in hindsight he probably could’ve found another tenth of a second in his lap, which was not “magical” in a car that’s not a “comfortable” Q2 contender:
“Everyone can always find a little bit of lap time here and there. I’m not the only driver to miss a bit of lap time in my lap,” said Bortoleto. “I think we did a decent weekend so far. We have put every lap we could together in FP1, 2 and 3. Every opportunity we got we took it. We understand where we are.
“We are not comfortable in Q2 every time. We need to make very good laps to be there and have a very good car. Today I think I did an okay lap.
“It wasn’t a magical lap, but it was a decent lap. The car was quite fine, but you miss for one tenth. It’s almost nothing.
“For sure I will look at data and I will find a tenth in my driving. It’s common, it’s normal. Everyone can find it.”
… but believes conservative front wing choice proved even more costly
Despite believing there was more to be found on his driving, one key aspect the rookie pointed out was a mutual decision between him and his Sauber team to keep his front wing angle unchanged ahead of the final Q1 runs – which he says, in hindsight, was too conservative of a choice given the rapid track evolution as the cars laid rubber down – something he will learn from his first visit to the Japanese GP:
“Honestly, we decided to not make a step that we should have done in the garage, to play it safe.
“And we knew that we were going well so far, we decided to not do it. That was the wrong call, but that’s normal, it happens, it’s decisions we make.
“I think if we made a [different] decision, the car would be slightly better and I would be able to put a little bit better lap as well.
“[It was] a bit more front flap because of the track evolution. I didn’t do it, I decided to stay [with] the same [as the first run].
“It’s experience as well, it’s my first time in Suzuka, I didn’t know how much the track improves.
“I don’t want to add flap and suddenly be sideways in my last lap in quali. I was actually very happy with the car in the second set [of tyres]. We were in a good position and I decided to stay the same.
“But now, lesson learned, we move on, next quali, we know what to do.”
Rain the “only way” to score points on Sunday
Similar to his experienced team-mate, Bortoleto is looking forward to a bit of rain to spice things up on Sunday in Suzuka, which would negate any learning gaps from the (lack of) long-runs in the three very disrupted practice sessions, and present the “only way” for Sauber to get points out of what has been a very tough weekend so far at the Japanese GP:
“It’s not enough [data], because in FP2, everyone does long runs and there was a lot of red flags. I think tomorrow may be wet, so it doesn’t matter so much if you work on your race pace in FP2.
“[A wet race] is the only way that we can maybe get some points, right?”
