After a disappointing qualifying that left him in 16th, Bortoleto bounced back to finish 10th, scoring a point at the F1 Mexico City GP. Despite qualifying struggles earlier in the weekend, the Kick Sauber driver had good pace, finishing 5th in FP1, 15th in FP2, and then 10th in FP3.
From qualifying frustration to race redemption
Although he started 16th, Bortoleto made a strong start, charging past Hülkenberg, Alonso, and Lawson on Lap 1 to move up to 13th. Later in the race, he climbed to tenth before falling back after pitting on Lap 39. However, he fought back into the points following a close battle with Isack Hadjar near the end. Arguably the most impressive thing was the fact he overcut Yuki Tsunoda in a Red Bull.
Commenting on the F1 Mexico City GP weekend, Bortoleto said, “Yeah, it was a solid race. I was very disappointed yesterday obviously because as I told you guys, I felt like we had much more on the table. And just that last set of tyre I didn’t have grip. I was very frustrated because I generally think the car could have been in Q3 and it was in a good, let’s say, performance, a bit like a European season that we were having. But yeah, today we managed to show a very good pace and put a solid one point.”
Battling through the grid
On Lap 62, Bortoleto endured a brave battle with Hadjar at Turn 1. When asked about the superb overtake, Bortoleto explained, “No, I mean at some point I tried to overtake him so many times, I said, whatever happens, it happens. If we crash, we crash, but at least I need to go for it. It worked out very well, it was tough fights with him, but he was clean, I was clean and everything was cool.”
Looking back at the race start, Bortoleto managed to overtake three cars. On whether this gave him an advantage or not, he said: “Yeah, I mean it definitely helped, but it was very good to make a good start because I’ve been struggling a bit with the starts recently, but then I knew I needed to manage the tyres because we wanted to go for a one-stop. And Carlos was pushing quite hard at the beginning, so I was like, let me take care a bit more of the tyres and when I think he destroyed a bit his tyres, I went for the move. And then managed to stay a bit longer and overcut Yuki as well and overtook Isack, so it was very solid.”
Home race preparation
Bortoleto’s home race, the F1 Brazilian GP, is next on the calendar. He shared his excitement for the upcoming weekend, “Probably the nicest one of the year and hopefully we can have a very good result there.”
However, with it being his first home race, he will take part in many commitments beyond racing, including fan and sponsor events. On managing his time, he said, “Well, the priority and the focus is always the weekend of the racing, you know, it’s the racing side of it and all the sponsors know it. Obviously, I have more commitments than normal because that’s why I get paid for, you know, to go to these meet and greets and talk to people and yeah, just be there and I’m happy to do this. But at the same time everyone supports me and knows that the priority is racing and we have a very good schedule for next week to make sure I attend all the commitments I have, plus the most important, the racing side of it.”
