Gabriel Bortoleto nearly missed the Canadian GP due to a theft he suffered. On the eve of the race weekend, the Sauber driver recounted the incident, first reported by the Brazilian outlet Brand.
While he was in Zurich, Switzerland, where the team is based, the Brazilian had his car stolen. Inside were his personal belongings, but most importantly, his documents. Most of the items were recovered—but not his passport.
Gabriel Bortoleto was therefore forced to redo his documents at the last minute and flew to Canada using a second passport. Despite the unexpected setback, the young driver, making his debut in Formula 1 this year, made it in time for the Thursday media day.
“One evening I went out for dinner in Switzerland. They broke into the car and took my backpack. I had my passports in there, everything, my laptop, all my racing gear,” Gabriel Bortoleto told the Brazilian magazine.
“It was chaos, but we managed to find the person responsible. In the end, everything was sorted out, I got my passports back. We didn’t recover everything, but we did get some things,” he added.
The situation ended in the best possible way for Gabriel Bortoleto, who had been at serious risk of staying home and missing the Grand Prix. The driver is currently nineteenth in the standings. Despite a decent qualifying performance, after nine races he has yet to score any points.
The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal is new to him, as he has never raced in Canada before. “It’s a street circuit, so I think that always makes the weekend a bit more competitive—I’m not sure if that’s the right word. I think it just makes mistakes a bit less acceptable,” he told the media.
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