Sauber celebrated their first double points finish for two years in Austria
Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto repaid the team’s faith in him by converting his eighth place on the grid to the same position at the finish. But his team mate Nico Hulkenberg’s rise to ninth place was even more surprising as he started last.
Hulkenberg lined up two places behind Yuki Tsunoda, yet finished seven places ahead of the Red Bull driver. Tsunoda took himself out of contention by colliding with Franco Colapinto – but Sauber had already put Hulkenberg on course to claim the scalp of one of the front-running teams.
While most drivers including Bortoleto took the start on the medium tyre compound, Sauber gave Hulkenberg a set of softs. He moved up to 17th behind Tsunoda by lap two but that was only due to the retirements of Max Verstappen, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz Jnr. Then Isack Hadjar dumped his soft tyres, which meant Tsunoda and Hulkenberg were now fighting over 15th.
Sauber reacted immediately when 12th-placed Oliver Bearman pitted on lap 12, bringing Hulkenberg in the next time around. That allowed him to undercut two drivers who pitted on the next lap: Franco Colapinto and Alexander Albon (the latter then retired anyway).
He also got ahead of Tsunoda, who didn’t pit to replace his original set of mediums until lap 18. Hulkenberg, now on medium rubber, made a crucial move on lap 22 when he passed the hard-shod Bearman.
By lap 29 Hulkenberg had let Bortoleto through and was beginning to pick up cleaner air as his fresher-tyred team mate drew away. Although Hulkenberg needed a further pit stop, Tsunoda almost certainly did too. The Red Bull driver made his first pit stop 13 laps earlier than any driver who made a one-stop strategy work.
Report: Red Bull need to understand cause of Tsunoda’s “horrible” race – HornerTsunoda needed to catch and pass Hulkenberg to finish ahead of him, but at this point they were separated by six seconds, a gap which included both Alpines and Bearman. Tsunoda was having a hard time passing Colapinto, and eventually tangled with his rival, which forced him into the pits for a front wing change.
From there on he was doomed to finish behind Hulkenberg, not to mention everyone else who took the chequered flag. Hulkenberg had the luxury of being able to extend his second stint and finish the race with a slightly shorter stint on the same compound. Although Esteban Ocon began to catch him towards the end of the race, Hulkenberg lost less time being lapped which helped him stay out of DRS range.
It delivered his third consecutive points finish and another good day for former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, now team principal at Sauber, whose squad well and truly put one over his former team.
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2025 Austrian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Rank
#
Driver
Team
Complete stop time (s)
Gap to best (s)
Stop no.
Lap no.
2025 Austrian Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
2025 Austrian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix
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