Gabriel Bortoleto endured a frustrating 2026 F1 São Paulo GP, finishing 16th at his home race after starting from the back. The Audi driver spun into the wall during a rain-hit Q1 and qualified last. A ten-place grid penalty for power unit changes added to his difficult weekend.
Teammate Nico Hülkenberg took the final point in tenth, leaving the pair level on 14 points in the Drivers’ Championship. Even so, Bortoleto found reasons for optimism once he escaped the traffic.
Bortoleto on his start at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP
Bortoleto felt he made a good getaway from the back. However, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen made even bigger gains from similar positions as they quickly made it into the top 10.
“Lewis and Max had rocketship starts. I thought I had a good start because I caught the cars ahead. But then I realised that Max and Lewis they had so good starts,” Bortoleto stated.
The opening laps soon turned into a battle with traffic. Audi eventually split his strategy from the cars around him to give him clean air.
“It was a bit of a shame. But after that, as you said, I got stuck behind other cars that were much slower. I couldn’t overtake. We offset myself. I got some clean air. The pace was very good.”
Bortoleto on his late pace and positive season
Bortoleto’s late pace on the intermediates offered the biggest positive from the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP. He also refused to let one result define his year.
“And then, what made me happy was the pace at the end on the inters. That was very promising, I think. We had a very good run.
“It’s just a shame that the result is not what I wanted. But I think my season is not going to resume from one race. I would say, I think I need to look at the overall, this year has been quite positive. I want to keep doing a good job and keep delivering.”
Bortoleto on the challenge of overtaking
The intermediates produced mixed results across the field early on. Bortoleto said the power limit on the straights made passing at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP especially hard.
“I got stuck. It was difficult to overtake because we are limited by 250 kW in the straight. It’s difficult to make a really big gap difference.”
He was quick as soon as the track ahead cleared. However, he accepted that his qualifying error had already shaped his race.
“But what I can say is that as soon as I got clean air, I was very quick. But, you know, that doesn’t matter at the end of the day because you are starting from the back. We are just saying what could have been, but it was not. The only thing I can do is learn from my mistake in qualifying and move to the next race,” Bortoleto concluded.
