It was a challenging F1 Singapore Grand Prix for Gabriel Bortoleto and the Kick Sauber team, as the Brazilian rookie’s evening unravelled after contact on the opening lap and a difficult long stint on hard tyres, which left him finishing 17th.
Early contact and pit stop
Starting from 14th, Bortoleto’s race took an immediate turn when light contact with Lance Stroll caused front wing damage. He became the first driver to pit, stopping on lap 14 for a switch to the hard tyres and a new front wing. However, the stop added to his frustration, as a wheel issue saw one of the tyres bounce loose and nearly escape into the fast lane.
When asked after the race whether the stop was mainly for damage or strategy, Bortoleto explained, “I think it was a bit of both. The reason of this stop I think was first to change the tyres because we wanted to do our earlier stop. Maybe we thought that the tyres were not going to deg as much as they did today. But yeah, then we also had to change the front wing so we lost a lot of lap time there and the race was a bit gone there.”
Long stint
Following that early stop, Bortoleto was left managing a draining 48-lap stint on the hard tyres as others switched to fresher softs in the closing stages.
“It’s frustrating because, yeah, whatever. It’s already gone,” he admitted. “It think we need to review and understand out position and how many laps we can do with each tyre. I think today obviously we didn’t have so much data to understand the race because in FP1 and FP2 there was a bit of red flags here and there. So no one was really able to do a long run. So maybe we expected to be able to do more laps than we actually could in each tyre.
Managing the Singapore heat
With the FIA declaring a heat hazard for the Singapore weekend, drivers were given the option to use a cooling vest to reduce body temperature during the physically demanding GP. Bortoleto confirmed that he ran with the system early in the race but found the conditions manageable.
“It was physical but I was expecting more if I’m honest. I don’t know if the cooling vest has something to do with that. But definitely everyone was saying it was going to be the toughest race of the year. But I just didn’t feel like that. But it was tough still.”
He added, “I think everyone is mandatory to use. If you decide to turn it on or off, it’s your problem. I turned it on for the first 10-15 laps and then after it gets quite hot. The vest. So it’s better to turn it off. But at least you get cool for 15 laps.”
Finding points in the final races
Despite the disappointing result, Bortoleto remained optimistic for the final six races of the season. He is determined to bring his Kick Sauber back into the points.
“I want to be back on scoring points. I want to be back on top ten fighting for that type of position,” he says, a goal he has only reached four times this season. “I feel like that’s where we deserve to be and that’s where we have the pace to be. We just need to nail things and put things together. Quali and then understand very well what to do in the race. Unfortunately today was not the day. That’s racing. Some weekends are going to go very well and some weekends are going to have difficult races.”
