Gabriel Bortoleto started the Formula 1 championship well. In the first free practice on Friday morning in Australia, the Brazilian from Audi set a time of 1min21s696 to take ninth place in the session.
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The 2026 season of the premier category of motorsport has officially begun. The clock started running in Australia, opening the first free practice session of the championship. At this moment, Gabriel was one of the first to leave the pits.
It turns out that the Brazilian, wearing medium tires, did only one installation lap and quickly returned to the pits – Nico Hülkenberg, his teammate, had also not set a time.
Then, with more than 15 minutes already completed, the competitor was back on track once again. With yellow tires, he did his first timed lap with 1min36s091, placing himself in 16th position.
Following the session, Bortoleto managed to slightly improve his mark, jumping to seventh place by recording 1min22s802 – 1s167 slower than Charles Leclerc, who holds the first position.
After having made his best lap, Gabriel returned to the Audi pits and stayed there for some time, dropping slightly in the standings and with just over 22 minutes to the checkered flag, he appeared in tenth position.
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Back on track in the final stretch of the session, the Brazilian from Audi was on another fast lap. This time, he moved up to seventh with 1min21s696 and two positions above his German teammate – with this, the team had both its drivers inside the top 10.
With just under 12 minutes remaining in this first Formula 1 session at Albert Park, a yellow flag was shown due to Alexander Albon, who stopped on the track.
After a brief virtual safety car period, the green flag waved again in Melbourne and practice resumed. With five minutes left in the first activity of the weekend, Gabriel was eighth, but was on a fast lap and was improving his time relative to Hülkenberg.
With the soft tire, the first time he used it in FP1, the Brazilian did not improve his previous time and remained in eighth place, just under 1s behind Lewis Hamilton, the leader.
Checkered flag and Gabriel finished the first free practice of the Formula 1 Australian GP inside the top 10, in ninth place, one position ahead of teammate Nico.
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