Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto struggled all weekend at the F1 US GP, starting 16th and finishing 18th. It was the first time that the Brazilian rookie failed to make it out of Q1 since Silverstone. The result also marks a three race points drought after scoring in four of his previous six races.
Bortoleto “just off” to start P16
The qualifying and race also marks the biggest gap between him and teammate Nico Hülkenberg on pure pace in favour of the German this year. The veteran put together a solid performance in qualifying 11th and finishing 8th.
Bortoleto admitted he simply could not get to the level of his teammate during round 19 of the season.
“I think there were no weekends this year that I’ve been off Nico in a way that I cannot find lap time. And I think yesterday in quali I was just off. I think we have been trying a lot of different things in the car that didn’t work.”
The stuck Sauber tries a second stop
On race day, Bortoleto started the F1 US GP on soft tyres. Despite early contact with Williams’ Alex Albon, moving up from 16th to 13th. He was bogged down behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, however, and came in on lap 15 and switched to mediums.
After moving up to 12th Bortoleto began to fade, and he came in from P15 on lap 37 to go back on soft tyres. He caught up to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto by lap 48, but could not get past. It would be Colapinto’s teammate who Bortoleto did get around at the end, with Pierre Gasly fading enough to be passed by both in the final laps.
Little time to reflect before Mexico City GP
Calling the 2025 F1 US GP “definitely[…] the most difficult weekend for me in Formula 1”, Bortoleto has a short turnaround to find answers before the Mexico City Grand Prix this coming weekend.
“I think at the beginning of the season we had results like this, but we know how our car was to be finishing there. And this weekend I just think there was no pace and we need to understand why and analyse things and try to find a solution for Mexico that is a new track as well.”
