Gabriel Bortoleto showed good performance in the only free practice session valid for the Formula 1 Dutch GP. In the session held this Friday (21), the Brazilian finished inside the top 10 by ending in ninth position with a time of 1min13s992.
Read more F1: Check the full result of the FP of the 2026 Dutch GP
Since the weekend in Zandvoort takes place in Sprint format, the competitors would have only this practice before having to already carry out the qualifying for the race on Saturday, 22.
The weather forecast for this weekend was the possibility of rain and most activities with overcast skies. For this only FP, the temperature was 19ºC and the asphalt reached 26ºC, while the air humidity was at 70%.
The official return of Formula 1 in 2026 has begun. For this first session, the asphalt was wet due to earlier rain and in the first moments, Gabriel stayed in the pits.
With almost ten minutes of practice already completed, the Brazilian had gone out to do a lap with intermediate tires, but soon after returned to the garage. At this point, only four drivers had set times.
The driver of car #5 was back on track, now using the hard tire. Nico Hülkenberg had been on the circuit since the first minutes and with the same compound, was in eighth place.
When he finally completed his first timed lap, Bortoleto placed himself in 11th position with a time of 1min16s362, just over 1.2 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, the leader. A brief yellow flag was necessary due to Carlos Sainz, but it was soon lifted.
Read more F1: McLaren and Ferrari bring upgrade packages for Dutch GP
On the next attempt, Gabriel managed to improve his time even more, moving up to ninth with 1min15s670. At this moment, he was behind only the pairs from Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, and Max Verstappen, being the ‘best of the rest’.
The Audi driver was improving with each lap and now, with just over 26 minutes to the checkered flag, he was in seventh still on hard tires, 0.9 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, the leader. At this moment, he was stopped in the pits.
Less than ten minutes before the session ended, Gabriel was on track and with the improvement of rivals, he was only in 15th position, 1.9 seconds behind Hamilton – but it is worth noting that the Brazilian’s time was on hard tires and the session leader was on softs.
But that did not last long, because in the final phase, already on the medium compound, he managed to considerably improve his lap, jumping to sixth after recording 1min13s992 – Nico was in fourth.
Bortoleto was on a good lap making two first green sectors, his personal best. However, in the third sector, he was hindered by an Aston Martin and ended up not improving his time.
The only free practice session of the Formula 1 Dutch GP ended and Bortoleto finished in ninth place, just over 1 second behind Kimi Antonelli, the fastest on the board. The Brazilian returns to the track for the Sprint qualifying still this Friday, 21, at 11:30 Brasília time.
Read more F1: Antonelli puts Mercedes in front in the only practice session of the Dutch GP
