Both Sauber cars are eliminated in Q1 in Suzuka: rookie Gabriel Bortoleto is once again close to Nico Hülkenberg, who makes a small mistake
On Saturday in Suzuka, Nico Hülkenberg is just 16 thousandths of a second away from making it into Q2: But his Sauber engineers are already getting the first analysis of where he lost this blink of an eye on the dark on the way back to the pits: “Our positioning on the outlap wasn’t ideal, considering where we ended up with traffic, warming up the tires and everything,” is the German’s initial critique of the maneuver.
In an interview with Sky, Hülkenberg then adds a little later, saying about the green for the early exit: “It’s still a tight midfield, that’s no surprise. We knew it was going to be very close and difficult.” He also said he didn’t yet feel “quite on the best track with the Sauber, just a bit difficult to find the harmony”.
This applies especially, of course, “in qualifying, at the limit – also with today’s wind direction, which has turned 180 degrees compared to yesterday, the car is just a bit more difficult to drive,” says Hülkenberg: “And in turn nine, of course, I had a small sideways skid on the exit.”
Wurz on Hülkenberg: “He really let rip there”
The wild ride across the kerb at the exit of the second Degner turn provides spectacular images in the TV replays. Ex-Formula 1 driver Alex Wurz comments on ORF: “He really let it rip there, it was nice to see with the light car and the new tires, cool shot,” Wurz judges: “But too much of a good thing there, that’s where lap time is buried.”
The latter is also openly admitted by Hülkenberg, who says with regard to the slide: “That cost me a tenth and of course in the end that makes all the difference.” As the German driver already mentioned over the radio, however, that was not the only reason on Saturday: “We were a bit late out in the end, the outlap was quite hectic with fast cars coming past that you have to make room for.”
The result: “You can’t start your tires quite as optimally. I wouldn’t put it down to that, but it wasn’t quite perfect either,” is the Sauber driver’s conclusion. However, Hülkenberg still has hope for the race. After all, rain is forecast in Suzuka on Sunday – which already helped the German to score points in the season opener in Melbourne:
“Of course, it’s always interesting in these conditions, anything can happen,” says the 37-year-old, ‘more than in a dry standard Grand Prix.’ Although he cannot yet estimate ‘what our performance will be like,’ says Hülkenberg, but ‘in terms of feeling,’ the conditions would open up more opportunities: ‘If it rains tomorrow, we want to make the most of it.’
Bortoleto: Q2 “not a matter of course for us”
Of course, his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto has the same goal in Japan, finishing 17th in qualifying just behind Hülkenberg, only half a tenth behind the experienced driver. “To be honest, you always want to be faster than your teammate,” says Bortoleto. ”But Nico is one of the strongest drivers over a single lap and is also very well respected in the paddock. Today I was only five hundredths behind him, but in Australia I was even ahead of him. It’s great to be so close every time.”
Especially as the Brazilian is aware that “everyone is finding a few tenths here and there. I’m not the only driver to lose time on his lap.” Which means: If everything comes together, the Formula 2 champion can go even faster, but he is still satisfied: “All in all, we have had a solid weekend so far. In the free practice sessions, we made the most of every lap and seized every opportunity.”
While the upgrades that were brought to Japan are having a “positive effect”, according to Bortoleto, the team still knows where it stands: “It’s not a given for us to make it to Q2 – we need really strong laps and a very good car. Today my lap was okay, not a magical lap, but decent. And the car was fine too. So to miss it by a tenth of a second is almost nothing,” says the 20-year-old.
The only thing the rookie regrets in retrospect is that, unlike his teammate, he didn’t make any changes to the front wing before the final qualifying run: ”Simply because of the track evolution. I didn’t do it, I decided to stay that way – but this is also experience, it’s my first time in Suzuka, so I don’t know how much the track develops,” Bortoleto is still learning the hard way, as he says: ‘In the next qualifying session, I’ll know what to do.’
