Sunday brought the 2024 Formula 1 season to a close at Yas Marina, with the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
That circuit hosted new beginnings on Monday and Tuesday as all ten teams participated in post-season testing, offering some initial looks at the 2025 campaign.
At Sauber, that means a completely new driver lineup. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are out, and in their place will be veteran Nico Hülkenberg, and incoming rookie Gabriel Bortoleto. Both drivers were in action for their new team on Tuesday, with Hülkenberg completing 113 laps — and posting the fourth-fastest time, although testing times are to be taken with a grain of salt — and Bortoleto completing 130.
The veteran driver described the session as a “positive and productive start” to the next season.
“The rst day together is now behind us and I think today has been a productive and positive start – we were able to take care of the basics and begin working together as a team,” said Hülkenberg in Sauber’s post-testing media report. “It was generally very useful to get a rst impression of the car. I’m looking forward to building on this momentum in the new year and really diving into the work ahead of us. I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome and I can‘t wait to get back to this in 2025.”
Bortoleto, who is coming off a championship season in F2 as he clinched the Drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, this was his first day as an F1 driver. The incoming rookie described it as an “amazing” experience.
“Today marked my first day as a Formula One driver – it’s an amazing feeling. I think overall we had a positive testing session – I put my focus on adapting to the car, learning as much as possible, getting used to the engineers, to the mechanics, everyone in the team,” said Bortoleto. “It’s safe to say that we have seen a positive rst day in my new role. Formula One cars are so much quicker, it’s denitely very different from Formula 2 obviously, but I’m looking forward to this new chapter.
“I am even more proud to be part of this team now and excited to see what we can achieve together next year.”
