F1: Bortoleto regrets problems in Sprint qualifying in China, but says: “It’s part of it”

F1: Bortoleto regrets problems in Sprint qualifying in China, but says: "It's part of it"

Gabriel Bortoleto had a qualifying session far from clean for the Formula 1 Chinese GP Sprint race. In this Friday’s (13) qualifying, he faced problems that affected his performance, but the Brazilian still preferred to keep his head up after the session.

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In Shanghai, the Audi driver had a few excursions during qualifying. In the end, without being able to advance to SQ3 and try to fight for higher positions, he will line up 14th in the Sprint race – his teammate Nico Hülkenberg also didn’t make it through and starts 11th.

After the end of the F1 Sprint qualifying in China, in an interview with SporTV, he acknowledged that they still haven’t found the best balance for the car and that the session with problems hindered them, but he still preached optimism and recognized that these are things that are part of the journey.

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Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) - Testes Barcelona F1 2026

“I don’t think I found the balance of the car like it was in Melbourne, to be quite honest with you. There were some things that are still not 100%, but it’s normal, it’s a Sprint weekend, there’s a little less time to adjust the car. Unfortunately, we’ve had some problems since practice with our engine, we’ve been struggling a bit with the gears, some haven’t been engaging, like on the last lap when I went straight at a corner because no gear engaged,” he told Guilherme Pereira.

“But it’s okay, it’s part of it, learning too, as I said everything is new, new engine, these are things to be expected, we were lucky that in Melbourne we really didn’t have any of these problems, now it’s time to work, try to correct it and go for tomorrow’s race and qualifying,” he added.

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