At the GP of Spain, Stake was not visible on the overalls of Sauber drivers Hulkenberg and Bortoleto

Bortoleto left Hulkenberg in awe during Italian GP qualifying

19:53, 06 Sep

Updated: 21:59, 06 Sep

byPietro Vurro

Gabriel Bortoleto had a stellar outing during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix scoring a rather strong P7 result. His Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg was also highly impressed with the Brazilian rookie's performance.

For Hulkenberg there was not much more than P12 after the flat dropped on Saturday afternoon's session. The German reacted to Bortoleto's performance in statements to GPblog: "He's just doing a really good job. He's a machine. He produces laps like a printer that never runs out of ink."

"It's pretty astonishing and I think you'll come to see who he is and how he drives. He hardly makes any mistakes, even for a rookie, and produces the laps very comfortably. He's just doing a really good job and he's strong."

Upon hearing his teammate's words regarding his performance, Bortoleto told GPblog: "I'm grateful to hear this from him because he's been a guy that I have always looked up [to] like from when I was in F3 and F2 in qualifying.

"I always used to watch him and be like, 'f*ck, this guy is so quick,' and when I knew I was gonna be his teammate, to be honest, I was like 'oh that's gonna be tough.'

"I would need to raise my level and everything, and honestly it's very close between us."

Bortoleto in Monza on his Sauber

Bortoleto's got the hang on Hulkenberg on Saturdays and Sundays

The brazilian driver then defended his German teammate's performance and result.

"If you watch the data, it's so close and we are extracting a lot from the car. It's just that the midfield this year is so tight that every millisecond you find can put you out or in.

"And I think this has been a [particular] situation, and we have been so close to each other."

The Italian Grand Prix qualifying marked Bortoleto's fourth Q3 presence in 2025 and the tenth time overall he beat Hullenberg on a Saturday afternoon.

Thwur qualifying duel now stands 19-6 in the Brazilian rookie's, who also has the edge 9-6 during the races. His sterling P7 today matched his best qualifying result so far in his young F1 tenure.