Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto squeezed his way into Q2 by 0.039 seconds, finishing 15th in Q1 during qualifying at the Imola GP.
This is Bortoleto’s third Q2 appearance since joining the Formula 1 grid this season, with his last Q2 entry during the last race in Miami. Bortoleto was positive post-qualifying.
“Well, very happy to be back in Q2.” However, the young Brazilian also touched on the difficulties Sauber is facing this weekend. “You know, for us it’s a bit of… it was not the easiest weekend so far.”
Bortoleto and Sauber have had a smooth weekend so far with no major incidents during Friday and Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Botoleto stated, “We had clean sessions all the way, but it’s not like Miami that we knew that we had the potential to go to Q2 with quite a good advantage.”
“Today was properly a difficult one to go, and yeah, just happy to be in Q2 again, extract a lot from the car.”
Bortoleto reflects after Q2 appearance.
After a chaotic qualifying, most notably Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto having big accidents, Bortoleto felt he had some luck during the session, leading to a starting position of 14th for the main race on Sunday.
“Obviously, I think a lot of things played on our side as well through this quali session, but doing a clean job and doing a good job put us in Q2, and yeah, just happy to be back.”
Speaking to the media post-qualifying, Bortoleto was asked about what is possible for the main race on a track that is tough to overtake, he responded, stating, “I don’t know. Honestly, it will depend a bit on the strategy everyone is going for, but it’s a very difficult track to overtake. It will be about learning.”
“I think scoring points will be tough unless there is some mess ahead of us, but yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow, but we give our best.”
Hulkenberg feels he has no “rhythm” post-qualifying.
Following another Q1 exit during qualifying and a disappointing grid position of 17th, speaking to the media post-session, Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg expressed his disappointment after a mistake cost him his final lap.
“I was chasing it. I was trying at least it was going okay actually the lap up until actually the chicane 14-15 I lost already a little bit. Yeah, and then obviously I had a snap in 17 and you know. Yeah, lost the car a little bit and then just went off and then too wide obviously.”
“But you know anyway when you have that snap you’re losing lap time and it was not gonna go quicker.”
Hulkenberg further mentioned the difficulties he has had during his Imola GP weekend and that the last lap he put down was “pretty decent,” all things considered.
“So yeah, not super happy. It’s been a difficult weekend didn’t feel you know the best rhythm and connection with the car all weekend so yeah, all things considered that last lap was actually, you know, pretty decent.”
“Luck” is needed for points to be an option, says Hulkenberg
Due to Imola being a tight track with minimal overtaking spots, Hulkenberg expressed the difficulty of overtaking during the race and the “luck” Sauber will need to be able to score points come race day on Sunday.
“I think overtaking is kind of not possible you know with how big these cars are here and with the speeds that we do now, which are you know, very high. And you know down to turn two is only really the only spot and if you put the car in the middle there it almost becomes impossible.”
“So not an easy task, but definitely, you know need some luck and some help from some racing circumstances, but um yeah, well, you know, I have to stay ready and still try hard.”
