Gabriel Bortoleto: "Things could have been much worse"

(Motorsport-Total.com) - The Sauber team worked feverishly to get Gabriel Bortoleto's car ready for qualifying, but in the end, the Swiss team ran out of time. The Brazilian, after his heavy crash in the Sao Paulo sprint race, had to watch as the other 19 drivers battled for the fastest time.

He would have loved to compete in front of his home crowd, of course, but above all, he's relieved that he was able to get out of the car unharmed after his crash earlier that morning. Bortoleto went off the track on the final lap of the sprint and hit the barrier hard twice. The second impact even registered 57 g.

"I'm very happy, because it could have been much worse," Bortoleto said calmly about missing qualifying. After his crash, he had to see the doctors due to the high g-forces, but was able to walk again after a short time.

He himself is doing well, considering the circumstances: "Sure, I feel a bit of pain here and there, but it's normal pain like on any other race weekend," he says. "When I'm finished, I always have a little something in my shoulder here and there - and it's similar now."

The maneuver goes well in the previous round.

One lap before his crash in the sprint, he had already overtaken Alexander Albon's Williams at the same spot with a similar maneuver, before Albon was able to counter with DRS before Turn 4. When Bortoleto then tried to overtake the Williams again at the end of the start/finish straight, the accident happened.

"I divebombed it again and DRS was open. I probably braked a bit on the wet patches and in the end the car veered completely to the left into the wall," he describes. "And after that I was just a passenger, you can't control anything anymore, it's just terrible."

Bortoleto first hit the inside wall, then spun across the track again and crashed into the barrier on the outside – his car was completely wrecked. He almost took Albon out with him as he crossed the track, "but luckily I didn't hit him. That would have been awful," he said.

DRS or driver error?

Bortoleto is still puzzled about the cause of the crash. Images had shown an open DRS, but he may have already overcorrected before he hit the brakes and the DRS closed.

"I've seen videos, photos and data that show a little bit of what happened to the DRS, but I was so focused on getting out in qualifying that I didn't look at why the crash happened," he says.

"But now I'm going back to the team and trying to understand whether that was the case or whether it was simply a wet spot that I hit," said Bortoleto. "That could very well be the case. So maybe I'll give an answer tomorrow, but honestly, I don't have an answer right now."

"Things like that make better drivers."

But even if it turned out in the end that it was his own mistake, he would not regret the attempt against Albon - even if it was only a fight for tenth place and therefore not for points.

"Unfortunately, in my previous series I was always used to fighting at the front, and now in Formula 1 I don't quite have the car for that yet, so at some point I have to fight, and all year I think I've been holding back and haven't been able to fight," he explains.

"But I think I need to learn and try things out, because on the day I hopefully get a car to fight for championships, I can't afford to make mistakes like that," said Bortoleto. He added: "I believe things like today make better drivers, if you look at Max Verstappen at the beginning of his career."

The Dutchman also had to endure some serious accidents and criticism in his early years. "And I hope I will learn from my mistakes in the future."

Time runs out cleanly

But that obviously didn't help his first home race. Sauber didn't manage to repair the damaged car in time for qualifying.

"On Gabi's side of the garage, the team really gave it their all: they built a new chassis, a new engine and a new gearbox in a very short time after his sprint crash," emphasizes team boss Jonathan Wheatley.

"We are all extremely relieved that he remained uninjured – a testament to the pioneering work that the FIA ​​and teams are doing in terms of safety. In the end, everything had to go perfectly for the car to be ready in time for qualifying – and one small problem meant that it didn't work out today. That was a shame for Gabi and the whole team after such an incredible effort."

Nevertheless, Bortoleto respects his team because it almost worked out. However, even for him, it's difficult to say just how close they came to getting him out on the track.

"We've already lowered the car, they've already dressed me, but if you want to do things properly, you need - I don't know - probably another 20 to 30 minutes to make it absolutely perfect," said the Brazilian.

"I think if they had sent me out, it would only have been to see if the car even worked, because they had rebuilt everything, so to see if the engine ran, if everything was okay, if the car was in one piece, and I think that would have been it."

Joy over Hülkenberg's top 10 finish

Therefore, he would probably have had to accept 20th place anyway. This is even more bitter at his home race, especially considering that his teammate Nico Hülkenberg delivered his best qualifying performance of the season and made it into Q3 for the first time.

But Bortoleto is not annoyed that the German driver made it into the top 10 - on the contrary: "Seeing him in Q3 actually makes me happy because we need the points for the championship," he says.

"I'm happy for him because he's had moments this season when I was in Q3 and he was out in Q1, and now he's been able to put together some really good laps and feel comfortable in the car," he says. "I still feel comfortable in my car and everything, it's just that I didn't quite manage to put it together this weekend, but the pace was there."

Starting from the back of the pack, the race will probably be quite difficult for the youngster.