2025 Canadian Grand Prix – Friday

Montreal, 13 June 2025 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber started the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with a focused and productive first day of running at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Amid a tightly packed field, the team embraced a distinctive approach, opting for an alternative tyre strategy that set them apart from the competition. Preparations now shift towards maximising performance ahead of what is expected to be a fiercely competitive qualifying session on Saturday.

Nico Hulkenberg (car number 27):
FP1: 20th / 1:14.821 (28 laps)
FP2: 14th / 1:12.914 (33 laps)

“Overall, a solid Friday for us. The circuit is as tight and technical as ever, and with such a short lap, you really have to stay on top of things. Compared to Barcelona, it’s a completely different challenge—much lower downforce and a focus on low-speed corners, which definitely changes the approach. We worked through the usual Friday program and made several setup changes between FP1 and FP2, which gave us some valuable insights. The tyres were a bit of a surprise—the softs held up better than expected, which could have an impact this weekend. We’ll go through all the data tonight and see where we can make some gains ahead of tomorrow.”
 

Gabriel Bortoleto (car number 5):
FP1: 16th / 1:14.324 (30 laps)
FP2: 13th / 1:12.896 (32 laps)

"It was a very positive start for our weekend today. Being my first time on this track, I was really focused on understanding how Montreal works, and I'm satisfied with the very solid session we had. Looking at the progress we've made, particularly in terms of understanding the car and the work we did to put it into a good operating window for tomorrow I have to say, that I am really happy. Overnight, we’ll dive deeper into some specific areas we've identified: there's plenty we can study to ensure we're better positioned ahead of qualifying. It’s tricky to predict where everyone is going to be, as we have seen that, once again, the field is extremely tight. Here it will also mean to run a clean qualifying lap without traffic which was already an issue today and will likely play a significant role tomorrow. Whoever manages to find the best position on track and secure a clean lap will have an advantage. Hopefully qualifying will run cleanly and smoothly for everyone."