Gabriel Bortoleto 17th on grid for Japan GP, but not disappointed: “I’m satisfied with my laps”. Gabriel Bortoleto positively assessed his performance in Suzuka qualifying.

The first weekend of Jonathan Wheatley as Team Principal of Sauber didn’t start positively, with the team being the only one unable to get both of its drivers past Q1 in the Japanese Grand Prix. While rookie Gabriel Bortoleto will start from 17th on the grid for tomorrow’s race, his teammate Nico Hülkenberg did slightly better, qualifying 16th.

It was Nico Hülkenberg who pointed out the main obstacles that, despite a limited gap to those who made it into Q2, kept Sauber among the last five on the grid: “The car has been a bit tricky all weekend, even more so today with the wind change in sector 1, which turned 180 degrees compared to yesterday,” he said. “It’s a bit difficult to find the right balance, and we knew it was going to be tight in the midfield, and that’s how it turned out. I had a small wobble at the exit of turn 9 and lost a bit of time. Unfortunately, this happens when you’re on the limit, and that’s where we are now. In the warm-up lap, I couldn’t get the tires to the perfect temperature due to traffic and cars doing their fast laps. That wasn’t perfect either. Tomorrow looks like there will be different weather, which could create an opportunity to take advantage of.”

Despite qualifying behind his teammate, Gabriel Bortoleto didn’t evaluate his performance negatively, especially considering it was his first weekend in Japan: “Today I missed Q2 by just one tenth, and all my laps were good, without mistakes. I finished quite close to my teammate, which is encouraging considering how fast and experienced he is. Now we can compare the data and see where we can improve as a team. We could have taken a small step to improve the car for the final tire run, but we decided not to make big changes. Honestly, I’m satisfied with my laps and what we’ve taken from today: I believe this was the position we could aim for. Overall, I’m happy with the work the team has done throughout the weekend, and I’m ready for tomorrow’s race.” – the Sauber driver concluded at the end of the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix.