{"id":36903,"date":"2025-08-18T10:07:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=36903"},"modified":"2025-08-19T05:46:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T09:46:21","slug":"hulkenberg-praises-bortoleto-for-strong-start-to-rookie-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/08\/18\/hulkenberg-praises-bortoleto-for-strong-start-to-rookie-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Hulkenberg praises Bortoleto for strong start to rookie campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sauber&#8217;s Nico Hulkenberg believes teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/13\/bortoleto-responds-to-helmut-marko-b-driver-comment\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a> has all the ingredients to be a &#8220;great&#8221; F1 driver.<\/p>\n<p>The F1 podium finisher was expected to lead Sauber when he signed with the team early last year. Indeed, the 37-year-old has performed at a very high level this year and contributed the majority of Sauber&#8217;s points.<\/p>\n<p>His podium in Britain, his first in F1 and Sauber&#8217;s first since 2012, underlined the success of his stint with the Hinwil outfit.<\/p>\n<p>Still, teammate Gabriel Bortoleto is also operating at a very high level &#8211; even as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p>Bortoleto is regularly on Hulkenberg&#8217;s pace, with the German praising the 20-year-old for his progress in 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"rk3TpO5DTcZTlUjeHuXkPQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2228339378\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'rk3TpO5DTcZTlUjeHuXkPQ',sig:'zU0cCVSA-kXqMoZcXLI5lJ-jVXu_YsRn82_xYh1rx0k=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2228339378',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Hulkenberg discusses Bortoleto&#8217;s strengths<\/h2>\n<p>The first round of the season in Australia was pure chaos, with wet conditions producing a very unpredictable race.<\/p>\n<p>Amongst the chaos, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/06\/02\/hulkenberg-delivers-huge-points-in-spain-thanks-to-sauber-updates\/\" target=\"_self\">Nico Hulkenberg<\/a> managed to claim 7th place on his Sauber debut.<\/p>\n<p>In the context of Sauber&#8217;s 2024 campaign, this was a very strong start to the year. What became in subsequent weeks, however, was how important those points were in the context of the C45&#8217;s performance.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the first few rounds, the Hinwil-based outfit were regularly at the back of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, there were relatively few headlines about the Sauber pairing &#8211; especially for rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.<\/p>\n<p>The Brazilian, who was overlooked even in pre-season for rookies like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/26\/kimi-antonelli-fastest-in-first-morning-session-of-bahrain-tests\/\" target=\"_self\">Antonelli<\/a> and Bearman, was quietly going about his business at the start of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Although Sauber lacked the pace for points, Bortoleto was out-qualifying teammate Hulkenberg relatively quickly.<\/p>\n<p>His race pace, though still a step behind the 37-year-old, was also solid.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/07\/14\/jonathan-wheatley-no-doubts-perez-is-capable-of-f1-comeback\/\" target=\"_self\">Jonathan Wheatley&#8217;s team<\/a> brought updates, Bortoleto&#8217;s pace was converted into points finishes.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Hungarian GP, Hulkenberg was full of praise for his teammate:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He&#8217;s very strong, hardly makes mistakes, a very hard worker, very dedicated and focused.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I think he&#8217;s really enjoying his time here. He has all the ingredients that you need for a successful career and to become a great driver.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;For a rookie, he&#8217;s already advanced and doing a very good job.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He&#8217;s been in the points a few times now, which is good for us &#8211; and I think there&#8217;s still more to come from him.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"dS65YhahR9dAqkcHJL9i_g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2223534332\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dS65YhahR9dAqkcHJL9i_g',sig:'pvwW4zqWYitq0dQkgjkbEFiHnFat3jkr0GR3CSQncZo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2223534332',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Audi have good foundations to build upon<\/h4>\n<p>Headlines about Sauber (and by extension, Audi) have been overwhelmingly positive since the Spanish GP update package.<\/p>\n<p>This is for good reason, with the Swiss team fighting for 5th in the constructors Championship and on track for one of their best F1 campaigns in recent history.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, their mid-season resurgence does not take away some of the medium-term obstacles they face.<\/p>\n<p>There are big question marks surrounding the Audi engine and its competitiveness in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>As a new manufacturer in F1, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/07\/13\/why-saubers-mid-season-resurgence-gives-hope-for-audi-in-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">Audi<\/a> are playing catch-up to more experienced and seasoned manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Wheatley and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/26\/mattia-binotto-audi-anticipate-engine-deficit-in-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">Mattia Binotto<\/a> have both admitted this, signalling caution ahead of the new regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Audi recognise their F1 project will be exactly that &#8211; a project.<\/p>\n<p>Although it will be important to show progress in a reasonable time-frame, Sauber can be satisfied that their driver partnership will optimise the machinery given to them.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo: Andy Hone\/LAT Images (via Sauber media gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sauber&#8217;s Nico Hulkenberg believes teammate Gabriel Bortoleto has all the ingredients to be a &#8220;great&#8221; F1 driver. The F1 podium finisher was expected to lead Sauber when he signed with the team early last year. Indeed, the 37-year-old has performed at a very high level this year and contributed the majority of Sauber&#8217;s points. His [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":36846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,2072,256,345],"class_list":["post-36903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-gabriel-bortoleto","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-sauber"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36904,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903\/revisions\/36904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}