Gabriel Bortoleto thought ‘whatever happens, happens’ in his move against Isack Hadjar to score a point in F1 Mexico GP, in a recovery drive.
It wasn’t the best of qualifying for Sauber’s Bortoleto in F1 Mexico GP, but he made a good start to be in the mix for Top 10. He extended his stint and paced his race perfectly to make the most of the overcut, especially against key player like Yuki Tsunoda.
With Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz having their own issues, Bortoleto only had to get Visa Cash App RB’s Hadjar in the final stint. The Frenchman was on degrading tyres and eventually did not have enough juice when the Brazilian came through. It wasn’t an easy pass on the outside.
Bortoleto went with go big or go bust attitude and made it stick against Hadjar to eventually secure a point in P10 after starting from P16. He feels the first stint was a set-up which enabled him to secure the points result after a good start and tyre preservation.
“It [the start] definitely helped, it is very good to make a good start because I have been struggling with the starts recently,” said Bortoleto to media. “But then I knew I needed to manage the tyres because we had to go for a one-stop and Carlos was going quite hard in the beginning, so I was…’let me take care bit more of the tyres’.
“And when I think he destroyed a bit his tyres, I went for the move and then managed to stay a bit longer, overcut Yuki as well and overtake Isack on track, so it was very solid. With Isack, at some point, I tried to overtake him so many times that I said, ‘Whatever happens, happens. If we crash, we crash, but at least I need to go for it’.
“It worked out very well. It was a tough fight with him, but he was clean, I was clean, and everything was cool. Overall, it was a solid race. I was very disappointed yesterday, obviously. I felt like we had much more on the table, and on the last set of tyres, I didn’t have grip and I was very frustrated because I generally think the car could have been in Q3.
“And it was performing well, a bit like the European season we were having. But today, we managed to show very good pace and secure a solid one point,” summed up Bortoleto, whose teammate Nico Hulkenberg retired early on after power unit issue from the formation lap itself. This coupled with Haas’ double points results allowed the American outfit to jump Sauber by two points to be eighth and push the Swiss outfit to ninth with four races to go.
Hadjar, meanwhile, had fun with Bortoleto but he knew it was a losing fight after his tyres were dead. He thought his Lap 1 mistake only added to the issues as he dropped outside the Top 10 then. “We didn’t have new tyres, so it made the difference with the other cars around me,” he said to media.
“Strategy no, but if I didn’t make that mistake on Lap 1, yes….if, if, if. It is frustrating [to not finish in points]. It was but not nice when the tyres are just dying and someone behind you has big pace advantage. It is fun but I knew I am losing this battle anyway.”
Here’s the pass: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-bortoleto-goes-round-the-outside-of-hadjar-to-claim-p10.1847087888215465172
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