Gabriel Bortoleto has spoken of his frustration at one particular element of Formula 1‘s new generation of car during the Bahrain pre-season test.
Bortoleto is preparing for his second full F1 season, now powered by Audi following the German car giant’s takeover of Sauber.
Enjoying a positive first day in Bahrain, he racked up 49 laps gathering vital data on how Audi’s car has reacted to the new complex regulations.
But the R26 is proving to be a difficult beast to tame, the Brazilian locking up multiple times as he wrestled with downshifts and battery use.
Still enjoying the challenge, Bortoleto acknowledged the new cars had less grip in the corners.
“It’s just different, you know,” he said to media in Bahrain, including Motorsport Week.
“It’s less fast than last year for sure.
“Everyone always thinks that because you have faster cars, it’s always more enjoyable.
“But sometimes it’s also enjoyable to have a car that has less grip. You play more with it.
“I still don’t have a clear opinion of what I prefer because it’s very early stages.And I need to see also how you race with this. Because we so far haven’t raced with these new regulations. But it’s enjoyable .It’s nice.”
Practice starts a “mess” for Gabriel Bortoleto
Commenting on practice starts, Gabriel Bortoleto gave an insight into a the difficulties drivers experienced in the pit lane while executing them.
The new battery management systems require the energy to spool up to ten seconds, leaving drivers with a difficult job of attempting to time the procedure at lights out.
“Oh man, it’s complicated”, he admitted.
The 10 second thing and then after 5 seconds I already lost the count. And then engine driving up, gear in and out.You need to release the clutch. It’s quite a mess. It was much easier last year.
READ MORE: Franco Colapinto admits to ‘car problems’ after nightmare first day in Bahrain
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