Gabriel Bortoleto started the Belgian GP stage of Formula 1 within the top 10 of the timing table. In the first session held this Friday (17), the Brazilian recorded 1min40s406 to finish in tenth position.
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For this start of the weekend, the weather was steady and the heat was present. The thermometer indicated 25ºC and the asphalt was already reaching 43ºC, with humidity around 41%.
The free practice session started at Spa-Francorchamps and for this first moment of the session, Bortoleto went out with hard tires – most of the field was on medium, although other names like Colapinto, Bottas, and Pérez were also on the white compound.
When he completed the first timed lap, the Audi driver jumped to eighth place with a time of 1min50s992, just over 2s behind Isack Hadjar, the leader of the activity, but not even ten minutes had passed.
Just over 15 minutes into the session in Belgium and Gabriel was in tenth position still without having improved his time. In comparison, Nico Hülkenberg was in 12th.
It didn’t take long and on the next lap, the driver of car #5 managed to slightly lower his mark to 1min49s825, moving up to ninth place. On the following attempt, the Brazilian had a great lap and placed himself fifth with 1min49s240.
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With 25 minutes remaining until the checkered flag in TL1 of the Belgian GP of F1, Bortoleto was stopped for a while and returned to the track, now in tenth position and his teammate Hülkenberg just ahead, in ninth. The Brazilian was now on soft tires.
When Gabriel completed another fast lap, he went to eighth place with 1min48s406, 1.336s behind Max Verstappen, the fastest at the moment.
With six minutes to the end of the session, Bortoleto was in tenth position, everyone was on the track, but the driver had already stopped and even gotten out of the car. According to Mariana Becker on SporTV, Audi’s plans were indeed for a shorter session and they had already started work for TL2.
The first practice session at Spa-Francorchamps ended and Bortoleto was tenth, 1.336s behind first-placed Verstappen. Hülkenberg was 12th.
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