Nico Hulkenberg vowed that Sauber has now “found the connection to the midfield train” as he secured a sensational top-five finish in Formula 1‘s Spanish Grand Prix.
Sauber had gone seven rounds leading up to last weekend without a single point, but Hulkenberg produced a remarkable drive to put an emphatic end to that drought.
The German lined up towards the back in 15th place, but a storming opening lap in which he managed to make up six spots propelled him right into points contention.
“Yeah, there was a car coming sliding across so both Gabi [Gabriel Bortoleto] and I had to avoid Turn 2 and avoid some car”, he told media including Motorsport Week.
“And had a bit of [a] fight with Fernando [Alonso] also, I think for one or two laps, but wrestled him down in the end. And yeah, that was good.”
Having advanced as high as seventh before a late Safety Car was called, Hulkenberg passed Lewis Hamilton and capitalised on Max Verstappen’s penalty to bag fifth.
Asked whether it was a surprise to overtake a Ferrari on track, Hulkenberg conceded that Hamilton being on a compound that had done previous mileage contributed.
“He only had a used Soft [tyre] left. That’s what you see, even though he’s in a Ferrari, with how important and how powerful the tyres are,” he highlighted.
“He was just sliding around a lot and I had new boots, which made all the difference.
He added: “It was a great race, just one of them races where everything seemed to click and work out.
“Beautiful when it happens, doesn’t happen that often unfortunately, but today it did.
“I think, yeah, having all these new tyres, being out in Q1, actually was really useful and helpful today.
“And then on the other hand, from 16th to have the start in lap one that I had kind of immediately reset the race and then put us into the fight for a good result.
“Obviously the late Safety Car and then having another set of Softs did the rest of it. So very happy and obviously we take that.”
But while he accepted that events helped him achieve Sauber’s first top-five result since 2022, Hulkenberg cited he was on course to score points on merit regardless.
“I mean, P5… you can only dream of in the normal races and circumstances,” he expressed.
“But I think obviously it was a P8 or P9 before the Safety Car, which already would have been really, really good for us.”
Sauber back in the midfield battle
Sauber’s upswing in competitiveness – which also contained Bortoleto ending up 12th – coincided with the team introducing an extensive upgrade package to the C45.
“Just for the moment, it’s obviously a very sweet moment,” Hulkenberg expressed.
“Second time with points this year, but since Melbourne it’s obviously been a bit of a dry patch.
“It’s been difficult, but I believe it puts us more on the map in the midfield fight. I think we’ve found the connection to that train.
“In quali you know things are very tight and everything needs to be right, but I feel like in the races hopefully we can be there and push into it and fight with all these other guys more.
“If you bring updates and performance that works, you know, you can help yourself.”
Did a rule change assist Sauber resurgence?
Hulkenberg suspects the FIA’s clampdown on flexing front wings could also have boosted Sauber, though he stressed the updates delivered the biggest improvement.
“To be honest, I think it’s more the updates, maybe it’s the technical TD (technical Directive), the flexi wing stuff that others paid more of a price than us, because honestly I feel for us it didn’t change that much,” the veteran admitted when probed on the Barcelona rule change.
“I don’t feel much different in high speed and, to be honest, high speed so far has been not our strongest point, so I tend to believe it is the update.”
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