Bortoleto: "It’s finally becoming reality”

Written by Bo Helmus

Bortoleto and Hülkenberg make up Audi’s lineup | Credit: Audi Revolut F1 Team

Gabriel Bortoleto walked into the paddock with a big smile on Thursday, and rightfully so. He put the crown on Audi’s debut race in Formula One by bringing home two points for the team. 

Whereas most new constructors struggle at the beginning of their maiden season, the German manufacturer had a dream start. Their drivers qualified 10th and 11th and Bortoleto sealed the deal by finishing ninth. 

Bortoleto felt good in his Audi last weekend | Credit: Formula One

The Brazilian was understandably happy with last week’s results: “It was a great weekend, I must say. I really didn’t expect that. Going to Q3 in our first try, then scoring points, it was something very positive that, yeah, I was just extremely happy to be able to achieve that already in our first weekend.”

Redemption

Bortoleto didn’t have an easy start in the pinnacle of motorsports. He was outshined by rookies that got great results, but it should be mentioned that they drove for teams that were fighting for podium positions. Bortoleto drove for Kick Sauber, a midfield team, so it is not surprising that he wasn’t picking up points left and right. 

However, Bortoleto saw his fellow rookies fight for better positions than he did, and that can’t have been easy for the young Brazilian driver. He explains that his mindset changed in the winter break: “The way I’m dealing with things now, also the understanding about how I want to approach my race weekends, outside of the race weekends also.

“How I’m working with the team, knowing these people already for two years now is a completely different thing. I just feel much more relaxed, much more also ‘compromised’ to the project somehow that is finally becoming a reality, to be Audi.

Bortoleto has a more relaxed mindset this year | Credit: Audi Revolut F1 Team

“And yeah, just probably I’m enjoying much more now than what I was at this moment last year, and hopefully we can keep it going like this.”

Spiciness

When Bortoleto was asked whether Audi could keep performing well in China, he mentioned it would be different because it is a sprint weekend: “If it was a normal weekend, we would probably just be testing things in FP1, 2 and 3 and then going to quali with more or less what we think is the best.

“Here it’s not going to be different. I don’t think we’re going to have everything maximised before qualifying, so we’re going to be testing things and learning things also in sprint quali, sprint race. But yeah, I think it’s also something that gives a little bit more spiciness in the weekend, to push a bit further and faster.”

The Chinese Grand Prix will be very different from Australia | Credit: Audi Revolut F1 Team

Can Audi keep up this pace? We’ll see this weekend.