Gabriel Bortoleto finished the first practice of the Spanish GP of Formula 1 in 11th position. On this Friday (11), the competitor recorded 1min35s652 to stay on the edge of the top 10 of the session.
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After so much anticipation, the moment of the debut of the Madrid circuit has finally arrived. The track has 22 turns and the most striking point is La Monumental, with 550m and 24% incline.
Clock started and the first official session in Madring began. The competitors, to start getting the first notions of the layout, did not take long to leave the pits, Bortoleto included.
With less than ten minutes run and the Audi competitor was the only one to opt for the hard tire. When he completed his lap, he recorded 1min39s028, was 1.7s behind the leader and placed fourth on the table.
Gabriel made a brief pit stop, but soon returned to the track. In the replay with just over 41 minutes to the checkered flag, it was possible to see that the Brazilian cut the corner and went over two curbs.
As the practice unfolded, contrary to expectations, no accident had occurred yet. With 37 minutes left on the clock, the driver of car #5 was in eighth place still on hard tires and 1.8s behind Lewis Hamilton, first place.
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Bortoleto was once again in the pits already in the second half of the practice. The Brazilian was in tenth position 1.5s behind the leader – in comparison, Nico Hülkenberg was eighth on medium tires.
With 12 minutes to the checkered flag, Bortoleto was already back on the track and this time on soft tires. The driver remained in tenth position with 18 total laps completed – in terms of speed, he reached over 300km/h.
For the final laps, the Audi Brazilian went out again with soft tires with seven laps. In his previous attempt, he was hindered and did not improve his time, occupying 11th place on the table.
Checkered flag and Bortoleto just missed being among the top ten. With 1min35s6252, the Brazilian ended the session in 11th place – Hülkenberg was ninth.
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