Wheatley's Leadership Elevates Sauber to F1 Pitstop Elite
Jul.21 - Sauber has quietly transformed its pitstop performance in 2025, rising from last year's struggles to become one of the fastest crews in Formula 1.
Earlier this season, the Swiss based outfit even held third in the official fastest pitstop rankings behind Ferrari and McLaren. A rare hiccup at Silverstone - a jammed left-front delaying Nico Hulkenberg by 4.6 seconds - didn't stop him from scoring his first ever F1 podium.
"It must have been a bit of a nervous moment," team boss Jonathan Wheatley said. "They've been solid all year."
Indeed, it's a huge leap from 2024, when a winter redesign of wheel hubs caused repeated failures and a delayed solution.
"We now have stable equipment," sporting director Inaki Rueda told Auto Motor und Sport. "That was the area where we had problems at the beginning of last season. But that improved over the course of the year.
"It allowed us to put together a good plan for pitstop training in the winter. The guys worked hard there."
So hard, in fact, that Sauber recorded the fastest overall pitstops in both Miami and Barcelona.
"The pitstop time is getting shorter and shorter," Rueda acknowledged. "But the really fast stops aren't our goal at all. It's simply about being consistent and avoiding slow stops.
"If you can do that, the fast pitstops will come naturally."
Rueda also credited Wheatley - the former long-time Red Bull sporting director recently known for their record-setting pit crew - with quietly boosting processes in Hinwil.
"The trend with pitstops was already going in the right direction before Jonathan started here," Rueda said. "But of course, his expertise helps us further improve the processes.
"It's not something that can be implemented immediately. Jonathan also knows that what works for Team A doesn't automatically work for Team B.
"So we have to look at how we can adapt and utilise his experience for our team."
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