The Hungaroring Circuit in Budapest, Hungary, hosted this weekend’s activities for the 14th round of the F1 World Championship. Representing the Swiss Stake F1 Team | Kick Sauber, Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto concluded Sunday by closing out his best weekend of the year so far, finishing the race in a celebrated sixth place.

As always happens in F1, track activities in Budapest began on Friday with the first two free practice sessions. Unlike what had been happening in recent rounds, Sauber’s C45 cars did not show the same good performance. Both Gabriel and Nico Hulkenberg, his teammate, had results well below expectations. In the first practice session, with a time of 1m17s652, Bortoleto finished the session only in 19th place. In the afternoon session, when he ran race simulations, the Brazilian classified car #5 only in 17th place. With 46 laps completed on the first day, the prognosis was not the best.

“On Friday I didn’t have a good feeling with the car. FP2 was particularly challenging, especially with the soft compound, where I had some difficulties with balance and performance with low fuel consumption. On the other hand, the race pace seemed encouraging, and free practice is focused on testing and learning. The team has done fantastic work throughout the season, I’m sure we’ll find a good balance for both qualifying and the race,” explained the 20-year-old driver.

SEVENTH PLACE SHOWED THE TEAM’S FIGHTING SPIRIT

After staying on track until late Friday night, Gabriel and the entire team of engineers worked hard on setup changes for the third practice session, mainly aiming for the best setup for qualifying. Thus, in the third practice session, held on Saturday morning, the driver achieved ninth place with a time of 1m15s978. Two hours later, the Brazilian returned to the track for Qualifying. Confident in his equipment, Gabriel achieved an incredible lap in Q1 that placed him in sixth position. In Q2, conservatively, he made his first attempt with used tires and, on the second attempt, with a time of 1m15s586, qualified in 10th position and advanced to the final phase of time trials. Finally, in Q3, with great confidence in the car, Bortoleto achieved a sensational lap and, with a time of 1m15s725, secured seventh place on the grid for Sunday’s race. Names like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and several other established drivers finished behind the Brazilian.

“I was very happy with how qualifying unfolded today. After a challenging start to the weekend, where we lacked pace and confidence in the car, we worked hard to solve the problems that caused this and made significant progress. Securing a place in Q3 and finishing 7th – my best result so far in Formula 1 – is a great milestone for the team and for me. I’m experiencing a learning season, each session is a chance to grow, and I couldn’t do this without an incredible team around me. They encourage me, support me, and we’re advancing together. Now the focus is on converting this into a strong result in the race,” explained the driver who is sponsored by Banco BRB, KitKat, Porto, and Motorola by Snapdragon.

A SUNDAY MARKED BY CONSISTENCY AND EIGHT MORE POINTS

Sunday’s race consisted of 70 laps, and Bortoleto once again showed his incredible learning curve as well as the great evolution achieved in the Sauber team’s cars. After a perfect start, the driver jumped to sixth place. Equipped with medium compound tires, the driver of car #5 proceeded with his race. Between the two Aston Martin cars, Gabriel accelerated a lot but, mainly, knew how to save his tires for the decisive moments. Strictly following the strategy defined before the race with his engineering team, the driver stayed on track until lap 42 when, in a quick tire change, he put on a new set of tires – this time hard compound. There were 28 more laps of frantic pace where, in addition to attacking Fernando Alonso, who was right in front of him, Gabriel had to worry about not being attacked. Very maturely, the driver continued without making mistakes until the checkered flag and celebrated his best F1 result so far – sixth place. This position earned him 8 more points for the Championship. Now, with 14 points in the standings, Bortoleto moved up to 17th place.

To conclude Sunday with a “Golden Key,” Gabriel was named “Driver of the Day” through a popular vote held on F1’s official website.

“What a weekend! It really was our best so far. I’m very happy not only with the result we achieved in the race and qualifying, but mainly because we ended Friday with a car that wasn’t ideal and, together, we managed to find the right path to an ideal setup. We were fast in qualifying as well as consistent and precise in the race. I can say that we really extracted the maximum from both myself and the car in this round. It really is a very good feeling to head into the European summer break with this sensation of continuous improvement that we’re experiencing,” concluded the driver from Osasco, São Paulo.

The F1 World Championship now enters its European summer break period. The 15th round will be disputed at the Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands, between August 29th and 31st.

Photos: Stake F1 Team | Kick Sauber

Gabriel Bortoleto Driver Communications Office
Responsible Journalist: Flávio Quick