Gabriel Bortoleto: I'm close to Nico Hülkenberg!

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Is Gabriel Bortoleto's Formula 1 season better than the results suggest? The reigning Formula 2 champion is going through a difficult time at Sauber and is barely able to attract attention in what is arguably the worst car in the field.

His qualifying debut was very good, as he beat his experienced teammate Nico Hülkenberg in both Melbourne and the sprint qualifying in China and made it out of the first session in each case.

Since then, however, things have stagnated somewhat: In the four races since then, he has taken every position from 17th to 20th place and lost all of his duels against Hülkenberg, who also only made it into Q2 once.

The Brazilian hasn't had much to gain in the races so far either. While Hülkenberg kept his cool in the chaos of Melbourne and raced to a fantastic seventh place, Bortoleto's best result is 14th place in China. Since then, he has never finished higher than 18th.

Last weekend in Jeddah, Bortoleto again finished 18th and last. Nevertheless, new team boss Jonathan Wheatley was "very encouraged" by what he saw from the rookie.

Wheatley praises "exceptional" work ethic

"I just spoke to him for ten minutes after a pretty tough race for him," he says. "It was also quite a lonely race at times. His work ethic is exceptional. Whatever he needs to do, he does it."

Sauber pitted Bortoleto during the safety car period on the second lap and switched him to the hard tires, which he would have to use for the rest of the race. "We were hoping for a late safety car to save the day, but that didn't happen," said Wheatley.

He was only given last position on the start-finish straight because Jack Doohan had overtaken him, having also stopped during the safety car phase but having dropped behind Bortoleto due to a second tire change.

Bortoleto: I'm close to Hülkenberg!

The Brazilian himself isn't discouraged by the poor results: "In Formula 1, you never stop learning. That's my view," he emphasizes. "I've heard that from many world champions."

He says that while he still needs to gain a little more confidence in the car, he's generally not that far off. "It's just that everyone is looking at the final result, and that's frustrating," says Bortoleto, "but I have a very experienced teammate."

"It's not like he's in the top five," he points out, noting that Hülkenberg is also trailing in the Sauber. "We're very close. He beat me, but that's okay. These are my first races of the year. We're always very close – in qualifying, race pace, everything."

"I think I'm at a decent point, but there's still a lot of potential to improve—let's put it that way."