Gabriel Bortoleto finished the only session before the Sprint qualifying of the Formula 1 Chinese GP. In the activity held this Friday (13), the competitor was in 12th place by recording a time of 1min35s148, just over 2s4 behind the first-placed driver.
Read more F1: Check out the full results of Free Practice for the 2026 Chinese GP
With the only free practice of the weekend started and the pits open, the Brazilian in car #5 did not take long to head out to learn as much as possible about this new car at the Chinese circuit.
After the first installation laps, he then recorded his first fast lap and placed himself in 15th position with 1min40s290, being immediately behind his teammate Nico Hülkenberg, who was 14th.
In the broadcast replay, a scene showed that Bortoleto ended up locking his tires and went wide off the track. At that moment, he chose to take his feet off the brake to avoid damaging the tires – a momentary virtual safety car was triggered, but the practice quickly resumed.
The Audi driver completed another fast lap and jumped from 18th to 14th with 1min37s743, more than 3s5 behind George Russell, the absolute leader. Another brief VSC interruption, this time due to a problem with Arvid Lindblad.
As the session progressed, Gabriel remained within the top-15, unable to advance much in the standings. Using the medium tire, the Brazilian was in 15th place still holding the same time, four positions ahead of teammate Hülkenberg.
Read more 2026 Chinese GP: F1 Sprint Qualifying live in Shanghai
With 35 minutes to the checkered flag in Shanghai, the competitor was in the pits.
Entering the final stretch of the session, there were just over 22 minutes left to end the Chinese activity. Bortoleto remained in 17th place without lowering his time, still on the medium tire and with 14 total laps completed, four of them being fast laps.
Shortly after, the broadcast showed a replay of Gabriel having a ‘snap’ and briefly going off track, but nothing too serious. Now, he lowered his fastest time to 1min36s232, moving up to 15th.
Six minutes to the end and Gabriel had put on the red tire, that is, the soft one. At that moment, the competitor started his fast lap and when he finished the lap, he moved up to 13th by clocking 1min35s148, one position behind Nico.
Checkered flag and Bortoleto finishes the only free practice within the top-15, in 12th place by improving on his last lap. If he maintains this performance in Sprint qualifying, he will advance, at least, to Q2.
Read more F1: Russell leads only free practice for the Chinese GP
