Gabriel Bortoleto has opened up on the encouragement he received from Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg following a brutal home Formula 1 weekend in Brazil.
Bortoleto faced a tough weekend last time out, with two DNFs in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix in front of his home fans at Interlagos.
The crash in Saturday’s Sprint Race left the 21-year-old’s car significantly damaged, which forced him to miss qualifying. However, his luck didn’t turn around from then.
Sunday’s Grand Prix lasted only a few laps for the hometown hero as he made contact with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
The crash sent the Brazilian into the barriers, with a broken suspension, ending his maiden home race weekend in a way he didn’t expect.
“Weekend to forget and move on,” Bortoleto told media including Motorsport Week.
“I just take the positives that my whole country was here supporting me, the Brazilians.
“I’m just sad because I have not been able to race today and show a bit of the pace that I believe we had.
“It comes from me, from my incident in a Sprint Race that caused me to not do quali. So I’m going to be the first one to be harsh on myself here.”
Despite the heartbreak of the weekend, the reigning Formula 2 champion is reflecting on the lessons learned from the experience and shifting his focus.
“I believe it’s a consequence of things that happened earlier in the weekend,” he reiterated.
“But anyway, obviously it’s more painful because it’s my home race, but it’s just another weekend. We had so many good ones, we had bad ones as well.
“And there’s nothing I can do about it. I just need to move on, analyse things and learn from my mistakes and go for the next one.”
Hulkenberg helps to pick Bortoleto up
The challenging weekend was evidently tough on Bortoleto; however, his more experienced team-mate at Sauber, Hulkenberg, shared words of inspiration post-race.
The German, who has been in F1 for over 14 seasons, emphasised that tough moments are a part of the sport and they make the good experiences more rewarding.
“He said one in 20, 20 years in Formula 1,” said Bortoleto.
“You’re going to have a lot of good and bad moments. I’ve had a lot of moments like that. It’s just going to strengthen you.
“He’s proud of what I’ve done this year. I’m going to keep going strong and the good moments will come.”
Bortoleto, who has delivered an impressive rookie campaign alongside Hulkenberg, has vowed that his mistake in the Sprint Race is all part of his learning process.
“I think just risk management. I’m happy that I’ve been trying to do different things this week and being more aggressive and trying things,” he explained.
“But, like [in the] Sprint Race, it’s not probably the best moment to try a risky thing when you can break your car and not do qualifying, like I did. So that’s for sure learning.”
READ MORE – Where Gabriel Bortoleto has impressed Sauber in debut F1 year
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