Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg has opened up on the “massive disappointment” of being unable to start the Italian Grand Prix, while his team mate Gabriel Bortoleto went on to secure an impressive eighth in Monza.
The team’s race couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, with the squad radioing the German at the end of the Formation Lap to ask him to retire the car.
Sauber will be relieved to have a weekend off to investigate the hydraulics issue that struck before the lights had even gone out, with Hulkenberg prevented from taking his P12 start on the grid. “Oh man, you serious?” Hulkenberg asked on the radio, before pulling into the pit lane to park up.
“Well, just massive disappointment, your heart sinks,” the German said afterwards. “But me and the team feel the same way, a hydraulic issue, don’t know the details of it yet… [We] need to investigate and look into it. Obviously not great.”
Hulkenberg has not managed to score since his maiden podium at Silverstone, which capped a run of four races in the points. However, he can still take positives from the weekend in Italy, especially looking towards the next race in Azerbaijan.
“It’s been positive, we’ve been competitive on this kind of type of track, which is similar to Baku,” he added. “Baku is also low downforce, and about efficiency so that is a positive sign.
“Monza is always a difficult place to overtake, so it’s hard to say where we would have ended up today. On the positive side, it was a good weekend for Gabi, who scored valuable points for the team.”
For Bortoleto, he put in a sterling effort to come home eighth on Sunday for his third points score in the last four races. After a strong Qualifying performance saw him start in the top 10, the Brazilian was made to work hard in the opening stages by none other than his manager Fernando Alonso.
He did well to keep the Aston Martin behind for lap after lap, but eventually lost out in the pit stop period to the Spaniard. But aside from that, it was a fault-free race from the Brazilian, who inherited an extra place thanks to Kimi Antonelli picking up a five-second time penalty.
“We had a very solid race, with good calls and good strategy,” the rookie said. “My pit stop was a bit slow, but I also put this on me, because I possibly arrived a bit too long in the pit box and it definitely didn’t help.
“Overall, I am happy to have finished eighth and have made it back in the points: this is also important for the Constructors’ Championship. I am obviously hungry for more, but I believe this is the best we could have achieved this weekend – it’s been a consistent, productive one, and a good way to close the European leg of the season.”
After a tricky start to his F1 career, Bortoleto has gone from strength to strength since F1 returned to Europe following the brief trip to Canada. Eighth in Austria, ninth in Belgium, sixth in Hungary and now eighth in Italy has helped haul Kick Sauber into P8 in the Championship, just five points behind Racing Bulls.
He has also now out-qualified Hulkenberg for the last six Grands Prix, and team boss Jonathan Wheatley was quick to pay tribute to his rookie driver.
“Gabriel delivered a fantastic performance,” said the Sauber Team Principal. “He showed pace and composure on every lap, and while it was always going to be difficult to keep Albon behind on new mediums, getting stuck behind Gasly for a couple of laps ultimately made the difference.
“Nothing should be taken away from Gabriel’s drive — he scored valuable points, closed the gap to the team ahead, and can take a lot of confidence from his weekend.”
