Gabriel Bortoleto usually finishes at the back of the field in his Sauber, but are his performances better than the results suggest?
Is Gabriel Bortoleto’s Formula 1 season better than the results suggest? The reigning Formula 2 champion is going through a difficult time at Sauber and is struggling to make an impression in what is probably the worst car on the grid.
His qualifying debut was very good, as he beat his experienced teammate Nico Hülkenberg in both Melbourne and the sprint qualifying in China, making it through the first session each time.
Since then, however, things have stagnated a little: in the four races that followed, he finished between 17th and 20th, losing all his duels against Hülkenberg, who only made it into Q2 once.
The Brazilian has not had much to cheer about in the races either. While Hülkenberg kept his cool in the chaos of Melbourne and raced to a fantastic seventh place, Bortoleto’s best result so far is 14th in China. Since then, he has never finished higher than 18th.
Last weekend in Jeddah, Bortoleto once again finished in 18th and last place. Nevertheless, new team boss Jonathan Wheatley was “very encouraged” by what he saw from the rookie there.
Wheatley praises “exceptional” work ethic
“I just spoke to him for ten minutes after what was a pretty tough race for him,” he said. “It was also quite a lonely race at times. His work ethic is exceptional. Whatever he has to do, he does it.”
Sauber had brought Bortoleto into the pits during the safety car phase on the second lap and put him on the hard tires, which he had to use for the rest of the race. “We were hoping that a late safety car would save the day, but it didn’t happen,” said Wheatley.
He was only given the last position on the start-finish straight because Jack Doohan, who had also stopped during the safety car phase but had fallen behind Bortoleto due to a second tire change, had passed him.
Bortoleto: I’m close to Hülkenberg!
The Brazilian himself is not discouraged by the poor results: “In Formula 1, you never stop learning. That’s my view,” he emphasizes. “I’ve heard that from many world champions.”
He says that he still needs to gain a little more confidence in the car, but that he’s not that far off in general. “It’s just that everyone is looking at the end result, and that’s frustrating,” says Bortoleto, “but I have a very experienced teammate.”
“It’s not like he’s in the top 5,” he points out, referring to the fact that Hülkenberg is also trailing behind in the Sauber. “We’re very close together. He beat me, but that’s okay. These are my first races of the year. We’re always very close together – in qualifying, in race pace, in everything.”
“I think I’m in a decent place, but there’s still a lot of potential for improvement – let’s put it that way.”
