Gabriel Bortoleto endured a challenging afternoon at the F1 Imola GP, finishing a disappointing 18th position after a three-stop strategy backfired. The Brazilian rookie was misfortune of an ill-timed safety car and the circuit’s overtaking limitations.
Starting from 14th on the grid, Bortoleto couldn’t maintain position as the race progressed. He was the only driver to attempt an unconventional three-stop strategy, and it proved disastrous at a venue where track position reigns supreme.
“I think we got a bit unlucky with the virtual safety car at the beginning, you know. It went completely opposite of our strategy, and then we tried to stop that,” Bortoleto explained in the print media pen.
When asked if he found any positives in the pace of the car, he said, “I don’t know, I don’t have the time of the other drivers to compare, but the cars that were ahead of me, Gasly and Lawson, for the big part of the race, I was following them and not losing anything.
“So, it looks like we were strong. They also got a bit on the wrong side with the virtual safety car, because Gasly was in the same strategy as me, and he was starting quite ahead, and then he finished, you know, in the back as well.”
Bortoleto’s day was effectively over when Esteban Ocon‘s retirement brought out the safety car. That was just bad luck for the Brazilian and his team. Drivers on one-stop strategies could pit with hardly any time lost, which made any advantage Bortoleto might have gained from fresher tyres almost irrelevant.
Bortoleto believes the team’s pace warranted a better finishing position
The final restart didn’t go his way. He lost position to fellow rookie Oliver Bearman, finishing 38 seconds behind Max Verstappen in the end.
“You cannot predict when a safety car is coming in or not. So, I think we took what we had to take and what we discussed before the race, and it was just not the right moment at the right time,” Bortoleto reflected on his strategy choices.
“But, yes, it’s easy now to say that maybe if I started on the hards, I would be on the points and happy days, but it was not the case. So, we started on medium, we got the first virtual safety car, and then we tried the third stop that maybe didn’t work as we expected, and we didn’t finish in a position we deserved, I think, for the pace we had today.”
Bortoleto speaks on the prolonged Safety Car delay
Kimi Antonelli‘s Mercedes broke down on lap 46 with a suspected throttle control issue, compounding Bortoleto’s woes. The resulting full Safety Car period lasted a full 14 minutes and 8 laps, disrupting Bortoleto’s strategy even more.
When asked about the extended safety car period, Bortoleto said: “I don’t know why they took so long. Maybe because the car was still on the track, and I think this is for safety. It needs to be taken as many laps as is needed.”
He added, “But, yeah, again, I need to review. I was not checking around the track to see if there was still debris or not, but if they kept the safety car for so long on track, there was a reason for that, I imagine.”
The long safety car period was needed because of the complicated recovery operation for Antonelli’s Mercedes. That car was stuck in an inaccessible spot on the grass, so marshals had to push it uphill before a recovery vehicle and full safety protocols could be put in place.
Despite that strategic misstep, Bortoleto did find some positives in his tyre management, particularly with the harder compound. He was able to make that work for him.
“On the hards, yes. On the mediums, not really, but on the hards, yes,” he confirmed when asked if tyre degradation had been better than expected.
His pace on the hard tyres suggests potential for future points finishes if strategic execution improves. However, for now, he remains among the five drivers yet to score in the 2025 season.
