Gabriel Bortoleto was involved in a moment right on the first lap of the Dutch Grand Prix in Formula 1. This Sunday (23), the driver ended up spinning after hitting a wet patch of the track, but he admitted that it had little influence on the final result.
The run at Zandvoort had been quite positive for Audi, with the Brazilian lining up in ninth on the grid. However, shortly after the start, late in the first lap and as the second began, while on the main straight, he spun and dropped to 18th—just ahead, Max Verstappen spun in the same way, but crashed and retired.
Gabriel stayed on track and fought to recover, crossing the line in 13th. Explaining the race, he said that the spin had little impact on the final result. “I saw Max, I didn’t know it was him, of course, but I saw smoke coming from up ahead,” he told SporTV.
“I think instinctively I must have reacted and gone a bit to the left, and in doing so I hit an even wetter patch, lost the car’s rear, did a 360°, and came back. But I think it wouldn’t have changed much, to be honest with you, spin or not, the problem today was the pace itself, it was horrendous, and that’s that,” he continued.
“What a shame, because throughout the entire weekend we showed a good rhythm, yesterday’s race was excellent, and today… the issue was having to spend the whole race already knowing what was happening and it was painful to deal with all of this again knowing there is a problem,” he concluded.
