Wheatley issues 'brutally honest' wake up call to Sauber

17:33, 06 Oct 2025
2 Comments
Jonathan Wheatley has sent the entirety of the Sauber F1 team a stern message: the Swiss team doesn't have "strength and depth" in their performance.
It's one of those races where you're reminded that we still don't have the strength and depth in terms of our performance. And I think we have to be brutally honest with ourselves about it.
- Jonathan Wheatley
After starting from P11 and enduring a slow stop, Nico Hulkenberg made an uncharacteristic error spinning his C45 Sauber car around, demoting him to P20, the same place where he would eventually finish the race.
As for Gabriel Bortoleto, despita putting on a few moves, the Brazilian didn't have the pace to attack the point scoring places, crossing the line at the end of lap 62 in P17. Both cars were lapped by the leaders, to add insult to injury.
Speaking after the race, Wheatley assess his team's performance and arrived at the, in his words, "brutally honest" conclusion.
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He said: "I think if we look back on it, it's a very frustrating day today. Actually, it hasn't been a super smooth race weekend. And it's one of those races where you're reminded that we still don't have the strength and depth in terms of our performance. And I think we have to be brutally honest with ourselves about it."
gabriel-bortoleto-sauber-singapore-gp-f1
Gabriel Bortoleto's streak of seven qualifying duel victories over teammate Nico Hulkenberg has ended. Photo: RacePictures.
Wheatley then states that learning is in order, so as to not miss out on any future opportunities to score a strong result.
He continued: "But, you know, we're learning as a team and we're learning as a group. And there's a lot of learnings to take from today with decisions that were made during the race didn't put us in the right position i suspect that points were a possibility today."

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