Sauber boss Jonathan Wheatley spoke of the “team spirit” which helped Nico Hulkenberg take his maiden Formula 1 podium, with help from team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto’s race engineer.
The German veteran scored his first top-three finish at the British Grand Prix, on what was his 239th attempt, after a chaotic race amid changeable rain conditions, having started 19th.
Hulkenberg benefited from a strategy decision which saw him undercut several drivers, placing him in a position in which the only realistic contender to his first podium was Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
But Hamilton’s challenge was not forthcoming, and Hulkenberg held on to take a memorable breaking of his F1 podium duck.
After the race, Wheatley explained the decision behind Hulkenberg’s final stop, and whether it had been a reaction to Hamilton’s attempted undercut, as well as revealing team personnel not directly involved pitched in to ensure Hulkenberg’s result.
“Honestly, some of us wanted to stay on another lap [before pitting] because I think the feeling on the pit wall is it was too soon,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“That’s why I’m so proud of the team today.
“The strategists, the race engineers, Gabriel’s race engineer was working with the team as well.
“It’s not like he just folded his laptop down and went away. He was offering valuable advice. This team spirit here is building and building and getting stronger and stronger.”
Wheatley explained how Sauber managed to time its tyre stops well, saying the judgement between the oncoming weather and the decision to pit was timed to perfection.
“We had an eye on the weather that was coming, which I think is what everyone did, and then I think Nico just felt like his Intermediates had just had it and he thought the same,” he said.
“So we boxed him at that point. It was absolutely the right decision and I think then the other significant decision, given Lewis’ pace, was the time that we boxed onto the Medium tyre after that.
“We waited, we kept our powder dry, we weren’t the first to go, we were watching very carefully what the other drivers did and I think we got the timing right on that.”
Sauber remained calm amid unusual heights
Wheatley was asked why Hulkenberg was given Mediums rather than Softs to take him to the end of the race, but he indicated the latter was never really an option.
“We were talking to Nico about the right tyre and really honestly we were thinking whether it was the Hard or the Medium to go for,” he said.
“We weren’t really considering the Soft unless it was a bit later in the race.”
At one stage, it seemed that the momentum was with Hamilton, having made easy work of passing Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for fourth, but he ultimately came up short.
Wheatley reaffirmed that that team made the right call, and conveyed a sense of calmness, despite it being an unusual place in the order for Sauber to find itself in.
“I think that was why, as I said, it was very important to get onto the dry tyre at the right time and not a bit too soon,” he explained.
“Lewis put us under pressure by boxing first but we were just having a nice calm conversation about what the right time to do it was and I think that one lap made a difference.”
READ MORE – How the F1 paddock reacted to Nico Hulkenberg’s first podium at British GP
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