Method 1 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto revealed he obtained a heartwarming message from team-mate Nico Hulkenberg after a crash-filled dwelling Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Sauber driver’s nightmare weekend began within the dash race, as he spun violently into the pitwall after out of the blue dropping management simply as he was lining up an overtake on Alex Albon at Flip 1.
Bortoleto missed qualifying as a result of injury he sustained, however his automobile was repaired in time for Sunday’s race. Within the grand prix, nevertheless, the 21-year-old didn’t even final a lap after Lance Stroll crowded him off at Flip 7.
That got here after Bortoleto positioned himself on the surface of the Aston Martin driver and a clip of Stroll’s rear left tyre induced the Sauber to spin into the wall and resulted in broken suspension.
Though it wasn’t the weekend he would have hoped for, Bortoleto did take heat in his dialog with veteran Hulkenberg, who has began 247 grands prix.
“He stated one in 20, 20 years in Method 1,” stated Bortoleto. “You are going to have quite a lot of good and dangerous moments. I’ve had quite a lot of moments like that. It is simply going to strengthen you. He is pleased with what I’ve completed this yr. I’ll preserve going sturdy and the nice moments will come.”
It’s not simply Hulkenberg who Bortoleto has impressed in his rookie marketing campaign, as a result of the Brazilian has proven quite a lot of promise with a superior qualifying document towards his team-mate.
It is for that reason that Bortoleto was upset at not having the ability to ship such tempo to his adoring dwelling followers at Interlagos, who’ve been with no full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017.
Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Picture by: Michael Potts / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
“Weekend to overlook and transfer on,” stated Bortoleto, who gained final yr’s F2 title. “I simply take the positives that my entire nation was right here supporting me, the Brazilians.
“I am simply unhappy as a result of I’ve not been capable of race immediately and present a little bit of the tempo that I imagine we had. It comes from me, from my incident in a dash race that induced me to not do quali. So I’ll be the primary one harsh on myself right here.
“I imagine it is a consequence of issues that occurred earlier within the weekend. However anyway, clearly it is extra painful as a result of it is my dwelling race, but it surely’s simply one other weekend. We had so many good ones, we had dangerous ones as nicely.
“And there is nothing I can do about it. I simply want to maneuver on, analyse issues and be taught from my errors and go for the subsequent one.”
Bortoleto was then pressed on what he might do higher subsequent time, to which he replied: “I feel simply danger administration. I am pleased that I have been attempting to do various things this week and being extra aggressive and attempting issues.
“However, like dash race, it isn’t in all probability the most effective second to attempt a dangerous factor when you possibly can break your automobile and never do qualifying, like I did. In order that’s for positive studying.”
Extra reporting by Andrei Gobbo and Federico Faturos
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