Gabriel Bortoleto has reached Q3 ahead of the Austrian GP, marking it the best qualifying of his rookie F1 season. After finishing quicker than Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg in every session this weekend, the Brazilian looks on track for a promising result on Sunday.
Clicking with the track
Setting the eighth fastest time in Q3, Bortoleto admits Spielberg has “clicked” for him. As the place where he achieved his maiden F2 win last year, the Red Bull Ring certainly looks like a strong track for the rookie driver.
“I feel like it’s the first weekend that I’m that comfortable since FP1 and it feels like things are clicking for me and I’m going in the right direction.”
However, while acknowledging his affinity for the Austrian GP, Bortoleto attributed his qualifying performance to the progress he has with the car this season. Reflecting on his growing experience in Formula 1, he said he has become increasingly comfortable in the car and is starting find his rhythm.
“I feel like the track is very special for me, but for sure I’m getting more and more experience with the car and the team and the series.”
“I’ve been working very hard on understanding what I need from my side, from the car, and I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with it and that I know what I need before even the weekend starts.”
Walking through qualifying
Finishing in the top 10 all through practice, the rookie spoke on the significance of his first Q3 appearance this year. Lifted by both his personal progress and the car’s performance, he remains optimistic about maintaining this upward momentum through the remainder of the year.
“It’s very promising and hopefully we can achieve this type of qualifying every single time.
“The car was spot on as well and let’s see how we go until the end of the season.”
With Sauber bringing an updated floor and rear wing to the C45, it seems Borteleto has not only benefited from the upgrades, but also grown in confidence over the season.
“I feel like I’m getting more confident with the car, but not only from the upgrades but also myself on understanding.”
Reflecting on his performances at the beginning of the year, he revealed how he initially had wavering confidence in the car, demonstrating how far he has come.
“At the beginning of the season when you jump in the car, it’s basically a different feeling. It’s like every single FP1 you don’t know how the car is going to behave, but then when you get used to the car more and more, you start putting it in the limits earlier in the weekend and you work more on yourself, on the driving, on setup and I feel like we have been going in this direction this weekend.”
That being said, he went on to expand on what the team could work on, moving forward, particularly in regards to their consistency in Q3. He acknowledged that while recent results are encouraging, sustained Q3 appearances will require some more continued refinement.
“Qualifying obviously is not easy, I feel like it’s a track that has been positive for the car and for me, but there’s a lot to work still. It’s not that we are comfortable in Q3, it has been a very tight quali and I’ve been putting some good laps together.”
Looking forward to Sunday
While Bortoleto superbly out qualified the faster Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, the Italian driver expressed some frustration with his Sauber. Antonelli detailed how Bortoleto forced his way into the queue, costing him his final push lap. Speaking on the incident, the Sauber driver denied the allegation.
“From my view, I didn’t squeeze him.”
Nevertheless, he acknowledged how his fight probably will not be with the Mercedes driver. Instead he emphasised the importance of focusing his efforts with the midfield teams rather than chasing unattainable targets.
“Obviously, it makes no sense on fighting with people, you cannot stay ahead, but for sure I’m a racer, I’m going to try to gain positions early in the race and see what happens, but I’m not going to be focussing on overtaking people that I know have a better pace than me, like Verstappen, because you probably just destroy your tyres doing this, so we need to focus on racing with people that we actually know we can beat.”
As one of only three drivers yet to score a point this year, Bortoleto’s recent progress is looking promising, with the rookie potentially on track for his first breakthrough result in Austria this Sunday.
