F1’s slowest team? What the data really shows ahead of season opener

Kick Sauber was one of the worst performing teams during F1 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain.

The data confirms that the Hinwil-based team may start F1 2025 with some problems despite a slight improvement at the end of the 2024 season, but there is also some room for optimism ahead of Australia.

Sauber set to start F1 2025 at the back – but with Aston Martin and Haas in sight

Sauber were one of the teams that completed the fewest amount of laps at the Sakhir circuit before heading to the first round in Melbourne, 354 laps in total, which only saw them beat Red Bull and Aston Martin in cumulative mileage after suffering a hydraulic issue during the last session.

Moreover, their pace both over single laps and long runs was not very promising.

Even our colleague Thomas Maher, who had the opportunity to watch the cars from trackside in Bahrain, had a negative impression of the cornering performance of the C45, a car that will be driven by rookie Gabriel Bortoleto and the experienced Nico Hülkenberg.

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The data confirms the poor initial feelings, but also indicates that there is hope for the Mattia Binotto-led team’s evolution ahead of its transformation into Audi F1 in 2026.

In terms of race simulations, Bortoleto’s race simulation on Day 2 of testing leaves us with the worst average pace of the six drivers who completed a full simulation that same day.

This graph is quite representative.

Despite having the worst race pace, Bortoleto was the most consistent driver of all. That is, he was able to unlock more pace and bring the tyres to a higher level of wear.

Not surprisingly, Sauber also emphasised this aspect of consistency. The team confirmed that it had carried out all planned tests despite the problems and found a “decent, consistent performance.”

In a short first stint on the C3 tyre, Bortoleto was only +0.040s slower per lap on average than Isack Hadjar in the VCARB02 for the Racing Bulls team.

However, the rookie of the Faenza-based team completed five laps more, although he showed more signs of degradation as the laps went by.

The real problem for Sauber seems to lie in the use of harder compounds.

Both in the C2 and C1 stints, the Hinwil-based team showed worse pace compared to its rivals than with the medium tyre.

Probably also because, as we have seen, they decided to be more conservative with their tyres.

In the absence of race simulations from other teams, it looks like Sauber may be in a fight against Aston Martin and Haas for the last positions of the Championship, at least at the start of the season.

As will be the case at the top of the grid, it will most likely be the characteristics of the very different circuits at the start of the season that will make the difference.

However, on one-lap pace we can see clear differences with Aston Martin, for example.

If we compare Bortoleto’s best lap in the Bahrain test with Fernando Alonso’s best lap, we can see that Aston Martin have apparently used more downforce, which has allowed them to make the difference in the medium and high-speed corners.

It is also important to note that Alonso did his best lap during the morning session. Bortoleto did it in the afternoon session, where there are usually better track conditions.

Despite this, Alonso was +0.357s faster than Bortoleto.

The good news for Sauber is that with more downforce it is possible that they can compensate for those differences with Aston Martin at higher speeds.

Mechanical grip in the low-speed corners seems to be more even and on the onboards it also looks like the AMR25 may actually suffer more than the C45 in this respect.

The reigning F2 champion will share a garage with Hülkenberg at Sauber.

The German driver set a best time of 1:31.547s in Bahrain testing, exactly four tenths of a second off Bortoleto’s 1:31.047s.

Hülkenberg set his time during the morning session, as did Alonso.

What is the difference between Bortoleto and Hülkenberg in different track conditions? How much did the temperature difference affect Sauber?

We can see that Hülkenberg struggled at the exit of Turn 1 and 2 and lost a lot of time before the braking zone at Turn 3.

In the tricky Turns 5 and 6, there was no big difference in speed. But again, despite suffering at the entrance of Turn 11, it is Hülkenberg who loses the most time at the exit under acceleration.

In conclusion, while it is true that both the data and the sensations trackside put Sauber in a compromising situation compared to its rivals, it is clear that the Hinwil-based team has a remarkable room for improvement to unlock and be in the mix even from the first race against teams like Aston Martin or Haas.

Williams, Alpine and Racing Bulls seem to be a slight step ahead entering the Australian Grand Prix.

However, as it bears repeating, it will be the characteristics of the circuits that will make the biggest differences in the first four rounds of the season.

And it will be the development race that will change the pecking order thereafter, especially after the Spanish Grand Prix where the teams are expected to bring the first big upgrade packages.

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