Skid blocks led to Nico Hülkenberg’s disqualification in Bahrain for Sauber – The wear was too high, but Sauber is in the dark as to why this was the case.
Nico Hülkenberg was disqualified after the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain because the skid blocks on the underbody were worn too much. Sauber is still examining the underbody to find the cause of the wear. The skid blocks were only 8.4 millimeters thick, while the regulations require a minimum of nine millimeters.
The skid blocks are attached to the underbody to ensure the minimum ground clearance of the vehicles. Therefore, these planks must not wear down to less than nine millimeters, because then the car is too low and must be taken out of the race according to the rules. This was exactly the case with Hülkenberg and Sauber in Bahrain.
It was the second time in the 2025 Formula 1 season that a car was disqualified for this reason. In China, it hit Lewis Hamilton, who was disqualified because of worn skid blocks. But how does this wear and tear occur? Sauber engineer Beat Zehnder admits: “Sauber is groping in the dark.
“Maybe the fact that Nico only did a few laps in the third practice session and so we didn’t have a reference point,” he speculated. ‘But that shouldn’t happen and won’t happen again.’ According to Zehnder, Bahrain is tricky because of the bumpy track, as the skid blocks are put under a lot of strain on the bumps.
“You have to consider whether we are on a track where the car jumps a lot or whether we often drive over the curbs,” he says. ‘That was a mistake on our part. Of course, we never intended to break the rules.’ Hülkenberg apparently drove with a different downforce configuration than his teammate, Gabriel Bortoleto – possibly the deciding difference. Hülkenberg did not lose any points due to the disqualification because he was 13th. But Sauber still wants to make it into the top 10 in 2025.
Sauber has scored once so far in the 2025 season and is tied on points with Alpine in last place in the constructors’ championship. But where does the team stand compared to the competition? According to Zehnder, the deciding factor is qualifying and the clean air needed to get the maximum out of the car. “Dirty air just hurts, you have to be 1.2 to 1.5 seconds faster to be able to attack,” he says. “Clean air is much better for the tires.”
“We know that we have to quickly find two to three tenths to improve in qualifying,” continues Zehnder. ”Nico is one of the best qualifying drivers I’ve ever worked with. He makes the difference between starting from 13th or 16th place.” The next race of the 2025 Formula One season will take place in Saudi Arabia on April 20, 2025. There, Sauber will have the next chance to score points for the second time this season.
