Gabriel Bortoleto expands on his mindset having to adjust after success at junior level, as he notes about impromptu plan to visit its F1 factory.
Having had two years of success in F3 and F2 by becoming the champion in his rookie season, Brotoleto has had to adjust his mindset as a rookie in F1 with Sauber. The Swiss outfit is in the lower half of the midfield with less chance of points unless it is a grand prix like Australia.
He is in a constant fight to get out of Q1, while in the grand prix, it is a fight to not be running last. He is realistic that he can’t score, but it is tough situation still. For any driver, he travels to a weekend with the idea of winning or at least score good points for himself and his team.
But Bortoleto can’t do either of that. The maximum is to beat teammate Nico Hulkenberg and some of their immediate rivals. If they manage to score a point, it is a bonus. The results in Japan – although not too shabby – stuck on his mind, which pushed him to pay a factory visit in Hinwil.
He was supposed to have a time off before Bahrain, but he decided to travel to Hinwil to meet Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley. There he could visit the various departments and learn more about the process of what is to come and discuss what can be done to push the F1 team ahead.
Pace of the car, situation –
Bortoleto: “The pace has been positive, we know that the only real comparison can be with my teammate because we have the same cars. Honestly, I am happy how I started, I think pace was straight on from Australia, me and Nico have been close in qualis through these runs and race pace as well. It is a shame that we cannot fight for points realistically now. It happened in Australia but we all know it was a bit of a chaotic race there, realistically we are not in the position to be fighting for points every weekend.
“Sometimes the results they look harsher than they actually are. For me the good thing was to check my race and things to see that we are doing a good job as well, so I am quite happy how is it. Obviously, we need to improve the areas we need to improve, that we know, and when we have the opportunities to score points and everything, we need to be ready to secure that.”
Tough situation, mindset –
Bortoleto: “It’s very tough if I’m honest. It’s tough because I come from two very good years in my life, where I won F3 and F2.But at the same time, I have a clear approach that I have ahead of me. I didn’t come to Formula 1 thinking I would be straight away fighting for race wins or podium. The Audi F1 project, it’s an honour to be part of and it’s very clear where we want to be in the amount of years we think we can achieve that. It’s all about hard-working, and keeping the head down, and work, and improving. Because the day that we get the opportunities to win or to secure podiums, we need to be ready for that. That’s not the case right now, but we are growing in that direction. It’s tougher [than expected] in the sense of purely driving.
“When you are used to winning and when you are flying to a race event, you are thinking about: ‘Maybe I can win this weekend, I have the possibility to do so’. And in the position we are today, that’s not the case. We are very realistic that we are not able to win. And for any driver – but I can say for myself – it’s very tough. Because I’m not here to be last, I’m not here to be P10. I’m here to try to win, like everyone else. In my mind, I need to also accept the position we are in now. Because as soon as you start going into this loop of being too harsh on yourself or upset because you are not able to do that, I think you start performing worse and worse. You just need to extract with what you have now.”
Impromptu factory visit –
Bortoleto: “The first week has been very busy for [Wheatley]. He wants to spend a lot of time with the team, and I think this is a very good approach from his side. But I decided to go back to the factory between Japan and Bahrain. I was not supposed to, but I decided to because I wanted to see the team and to have some time with Mattia and Jonathan. So we had a good chat there. And also in Bahrain, so it has been very good so far. I have a big problem. When I don’t sleep, I think a lot. So I went flat out sleeping in the first flight and then in the second flight, I spent like three hours, four hours awake. And I was looking outside of the window of the plane, and I was like, ‘I can go home now and just relax, or I can do something useful and go back to the team’.
“So when I landed, actually, Mattia called me to speak. He was not in Japan, so he wanted to know a little bit about how the weekend was and discuss some topics. And I asked him, ‘do you think it’s positive if I’m back at the factory to talk to the team?’ And he said, ‘absolutely, it’s very good. And we are going to be super happy if you are here.’ So it was very positive, actually, because I managed to go to a lot of departments, talk to a lot of people, and debrief a little bit on our first three rounds of the season. And I think it was the best decision to be done.”
What learnt –
Bortoleto: “Well, I’m a driver who likes to spend a lot of time with the team. And I think… I think we had time to analyse a lot of things. We went through some data together. And yeah, just had some looks. You know, the racing team was actually already coming to Bahrain. So they didn’t go back. It was more the people from the factory. You know, the designers of the car. They are people who are actually involved with the design where the car is going. So I went to the Department of Aerodynamics and the designers and everything.
“And we had some good looks at the data to understand what is not working in the car. And what do we need to go, what direction do we need to push for. Obviously, we already had this clear. But, you know, when you are there, what they keep saying a lot is that the driver is the best sensor that the car has. Even if we have a lot of sensors. So I think it’s very important to give very detailed and interesting feedback for them where to go with the car.”
Being rookie change things –
Bortoleto: “It is not okay because you are a rookie, the mindset is always the same, you want to win and it doesn’t matter what season it is. I am realistic, it is not that I am able to now take the best car and win a championship, I am not saying this. The only thing I am saying is you can accept obviously the beginning as you said because it is early stage and everything. But I have a very clear approach like ahead of me and that’s what motivates me a lot. Because if I don’t have the perspective for the future of what we are going to do to improve, then it is a little bit more difficult for the driver to deal with it. But as we have a very clear approach like ahead of us, it becomes much easier.”
