Sauber boss Jonathan Wheatley has dismissed any concerns over Nico Hulkenberg being regularly beaten by rookie Formula 1 team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in qualifying.
Bortoleto has a 13-7 record over Hulkenberg this year, 11-6 without sprints, in what has been an impressive campaign for the reigning F2 champion who has five Q3 appearances.
The numbers can of course be used to slate Hulkenberg rather than praise Bortoleto, but Wheatley is dismissing that given the 38-year-old has had a solid season in his own right.
Hulkenberg finally broke his F1 podium duck with third at this year’s British Grand Prix and is 10th in the championship, eight spots above Bortoleto with 19 more points.
So, when asked if there are any concerns over the qualifying record, Wheatley said: “It’s a question that I’m being asked more and more often now. I personally don’t feel there’s any fundamental issue here, I personally don’t.
“Nico is a tremendously experienced and fast racing driver. Many, many times he’s been out-qualified by thousands, hundreds. It’s not always a big thing.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber in the Team Principals Press Conference
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 / Getty Images
“We spend a lot of time talking about how Nico had never been on the podium. We’ve done that now. I honestly think it’s just a transient thing.
“Gabriel’s fast as well. If one of them gets the lap right, one of them is going to out-qualify the other.
“I think Gabriel’s certainly been at a run of circuits where he’s more familiar with. With Nico, I don’t think there’s anything big to get over, he’ll just string it together.”
Circuit familiarisation has certainly been key for Bortoleto, who has outqualified Hulkenberg for the last eight races in a run that has spanned Austria, Britain, Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Italy and Azerbaijan.
All of these circuits were on the F2 calendar during the Brazilian’s title-winning year, so the 20-year-old has impressively built his way throughout the campaign after a relatively slow start.
He has therefore turned a lot of heads even if he hasn’t always been rewarded with a high-scoring result, and Bortoleto’s reaction to bad days is what stands out to his boss.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
“He’s wise beyond his years,” added Wheatley, after Bortoleto finished 15th in Zandvoort last month. “He handled the debrief brilliantly. After a very frustrating race, again, the way he’s developing, I couldn’t ask for more as a team principal.
“He’s doing everything that you’d want from a young driver, showing incredible maturity. And when the car’s capable of it, he delivers.”
Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov and Stuart Codling
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