Though not an ideal start to his Formula 1 career, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto managed an impressive qualifying performance in the 2025 Australian GP qualifying session, making it through to the second round (Q2). Though he failed to improve significantly in Q2, finishing the session 15th with a big moment in turn 4, he will start Sunday’s race ahead of his teammate, veteran F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg who qualified 17th.
“Solid” first Qualifying for Bortoleto
Bortoleto attributes his Q2 exit to a mistake made at Turn 4 on his push lap. While speaking to the media after the Australian GP Qualifying session, the Sauber rookie, explained that he had run the kerb at Turn 4 and had initially feared that he would not be able to keep his C45 on track.
“I made a mistake in my lap, I tried a bit too hard on T4, ended up running a bit too much the kerb there and let’s say skateboarding a bit the car. Initially, was not even sure I could keep it still on track.”
However, while he acknowledged having been too risky at Turn 4, Bortoleto admitted that further progress would have been difficult, as the C45 Sauber challenge lacked the pace to compete with the faster cars dominating the top of the Australian GP Quaifying timesheets.
“Was a bit too risky there, but I knew that to put the car maybe further away, maybe even in Q3 that was very tricky today because I don’t think we had the pace to.”
He added, “I needed to make a perfect lap that ended up as a no lap.”
Despite his early exit from Qualifying, however, Bortoleto believes that he had obtained a “solid result” from a “solid” first F1 Qualifying session.
“Quite happy with Q1, still a solid result there and a solid first quali ever in my career in F1.”
Albert Park circuit “not an easy track” — Bortoleto
Bortoleto’s P15 finish is especially impressive given the “tricky” conditions around the Albert Park Circuit. Bortoleto acknowledges these difficult conditions, and the additional challenges that they posed when drivers were fighting for slim margins.
“Yeah, well it’s not an easy track, it’s a very tricky one, you see a lot of experienced drivers, World Champions, spinning, doing mistakes, but that’s our level, when we are fighting for that millisecond, when we are fighting for nothing basically.
“We need to push the car to the limit,” he said, “And sometimes you end up running too wide or not finishing your lap.”
Bortoleto “can’t wait” to race in wet conditions
With rain forecast for Sunday’s race, the drivers, who have experienced only dry conditions throughout the weekend, will face a new challenge. While racing in the rain may be off-putting for some drivers, especially those with limited experience in F1, Bortoleto is excited for the challenge.
He explained that he enjoyed racing in wet conditions as he often had “a lot of fun” in such conditions.
“I’m excited! I can’t wait. I can’t wait, wet is one of my favourite conditions. I’ve not been running in the wet so much in recent years because, I don’t know why, it just didn’t rain actually, but every time I jump in the rain I’m very happy to drive and I have a lot of fun there, in the rain everything can happen.”
Bortoleto hoping to “experience everything” at the beginning of F1 career
The Brazilian driver explained that, while he had always felt comfortable racing in the rain, he saw the conditions and their associated challenges as an opportunity to gain experience and grow as a driver.
“No, it’s just that I cannot change the conditions we’re going to have, so I just accept it. I look up and understand what I can do for tomorrow and that’s it, but it is what it is, the conditions we have.
“I like rain, I have been in conditions where I always felt comfortable driving and it’s a good experience as well, to have this at the beginning of the career.”
With Bortoleto not likely to be in contention for the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship title, the Brazilian driver believes that it best to use his rookie year to gain as much experience as possible, in all conditions and under all circumstances. This experience, he explained, would come in handy later on in his career, as he would not have to worry about inexperience during more critical moments.
“At least it happens now and not at the moment that I’m fighting for something bigger and I don’t have the experience. So it’s important to have everything happening in my life now and I can experience everything, do mistakes, do things right and experience them.”
Bortoleto does not regret limited wet-weather running in TPC session
When would have preferred to have done more wet-weather running during his Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) sessions, the Sauber rookie stated that he did not regret driving in dry conditions instead, noting that his experience in dry conditions had helped his approach to the Australian GP Free Practice and Qualifying sessions. However, he added that he would have done more laps in wet conditions if he had been able to do so.
“I did a couple of laps only, but I don’t regret it because it’s a balance, you need to choose for it, I chose to drive in the dry conditions that I think it paid off because now we are basically doing the whole weekend in a dry situation. But for sure, if I could have done more laps in the wet I would have done.”
Despite his limited experience in rainy conditions, Bortoleto re-emphasised his excitement to race in the rain in Melbourne.
“But it is what it is, we go for it tomorrow and I’m sure we’re going to have good fun.”
Bortoleto will respect manager Alonso like any other driver
Bortoleto is in a rather unique position as a racing driver as he will compete against his manager Fernando Alonso who currently drives for Aston Martin. Despite the relationship between them, however, Bortoleto intends to treat Alonso like any other driver, and hopes that the respect between them will allow them to have a good time together on track.
“We’re going to have the same respect to each other like I have to any other driver that respects me and I’m sure he’s going to be fair, I’m going to be fair and we’re going to have a good time together.”
Bortoleto promises to “prove [Helmut Marko] wrong
After his strong qualifying performance, Gabriel Bortoleto issued a response to earlier comments by Red Bull advisor, Dr Helmut Marko. Marko previously described the Sauber rookie as a “B driver” when assessing the rookies of the 2025 season.
Having outqualified Red Bull Racing’s own Liam Lawson, Bortoleto, in response to Marko’s comments, said, “Maybe he will change the lap timing today.”
However, the Brazilian driver, who recently won the 2023 FIA Fomula 3 and 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championships, both in his rookie year, emphasised that he would not focus on the opinions on others, though he would aim to prove them wrong.
“But as I said before and I stick to the same, his opinion is not going to change my life, I will hopefully prove him wrong.
“It’s a good time, maybe today was already a start of it and as I said before and I stick to the same, everyone can have opinions, headlines can be very tough and I’m sure I’m going to prove him wrong one day.“
Sauber working “very hard” to improve” — Bortoleto
Instead, Bortoleto plans to focus on winning his own F1 championship, emphasizing that while the team has improved since Bahrain, there is still much work to be done. He believes that with hard work and time, Sauber can become truly competitive, and he hopes to contribute to the team’s progress.
“[Performance is] a bit better. A bit better definitely, but still not where we want to be, but we’re going to get there. The team is working very hard. We’re pushing.
“I’m going to be in the factory as soon as I can to be correlating, doing everything after China and we’re going to get there, it’s just a matter of hard work and time.”
Hülkenberg couldn’t find “a good rhythm” in qualifying
While Bortoleto is satisfied with his qualifying performance at the 2025 Australian GP, his Sauber teammate, the veteran F1 driver, Nico Hülkenberg is not. While speaking in the print media area after his Q1 exit, the German, described his session has having not been the cleanest.
“Yeah, just not the cleanest, the best of qualis.”
He stated that he was not sure why the C45 had felt better on Friday, explaining that during the Qualifying session on Saturday, he had struggled to find a “good rhythm”.
“To be honest, I think yesterday it looked a bit better than what it felt like for some reason, I’m not quite sure why, but today FP3 was struggling with the car, I didn’t find a good rhythm, good harmony, so it continued a bit into Quali. I feel like I didn’t hit the sweet spot.”
While Hülkenberg believes that his difficulties may have been due to the C45 still being in early stages of its development, he admits that traffic on track had added to his woes.
“And that’s obviously early days with the car, I don’t feel like it’s properly beneath me yet, it’s still a work in progress on that side for sure. In that lap, I think a bit of traffic sector one, which wasn’t ideal, and I think that just put me off, knocked me out in Q1 basically.”
The German driver added that the Australian GP was “the start of a long journey” both for himself and for his new team.
Sauber to “just take it as it comes” in F1 Australian GP
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Hülkenberg stated that it was difficult to predict how he would perform as wet conditions could add a significant challenge, especially with poor visibility at the back of the grid.
“Yeah, well I think we’ll have to wait and see what happens, what the conditions will be like. Obviously being at the back, visibility if it’s wet will be a big problem.
“I don’t know, we’ll just take it as it comes,” he concluded.
