How Sauber curfew breach helped Gabriel Bortoleto reach Q3 in Hungary

Sauber used up one of its permitted curfew breaches on Friday night in Hungary, before a surprise Q3 appearance for Gabriel Bortoleto.

The Brazilian rookie delivered his season-best qualifying result with seventh place on the grid, having bounced back from a difficult Friday practice day.

Gabriel Bortoleto: Friday was ‘worst start possible’

Bortoleto wasn’t particularly comfortable behind the wheel of his Sauber on Friday, putting in 29 laps in FP2 to wind up in 17th place overall and complaining about his car’s balance afterward.

That night, Sauber breached curfew rules in place for operational personnel in the paddock, with garage staff still working within the hours between 10pm on Friday night and 6:30am on Saturday morning.

Each team is permitted two such curfew breaches per season across the 24 race weekends, with Sauber’s breach being its first of F1 2025.

The following day, Bortoleto had a very different car under him. Flying through Q1 with the fifth-best time, he also made it through Q2 by the skin of his teeth. Finishing in 10th place, he was just a thousandth of a second clear of 11th-place Oliver Bearman.

In Q3, Bortoleto duly delivered again to finish with the seventh-fastest time of the session to claim his best grid slot of the year.

“Yes, very, very happy!” he laughed, when asked if he was a happy man after qualifying.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, the Brazilian revealed how diligent work throughout Friday night had helped turned things around in terms of the car’s handling.

“Obviously, going to Q3 is always an achievement for us, and doing my best quali is special,” he said.

“There’s no secret. It’s working. I feel like we had the worst start of a weekend possible.

“On Friday, I had zero comfort with the car and struggling a lot with the balance and off pace, I would say.

“Being able to maximise today, put the car in the right window and deliver Q3 again and a P7 has been something very special that I’m proud of.

“Weekends like this motivates me a lot, and they make me a better driver, because you need to keep your head down and work.

“We stayed in the track last night until midnight with the mechanics, with the engineers, working, we broke curfew for fixing things in the car and studying a lot of things that we should do for today, and it paid off.”

Q3 proved an unusual session as tricky, windy conditions set in over the Hungaroring, meaning the times actually fell away from the drivers in the final part of qualifying.

Bortoleto revealed that his first run in Q3 had helped him realise the wind direction was having an effect on his car’s top speed, resulting in a change of approach for his new tyre run at the end of the session.

“When I did my used tyre run in Q3, I was so slow on the straight and I realised the wind was shifting, we had headwinds, and the balance completely shifted in that lap,” he said.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, what are going to do for for the second, new set?’ And we took a decision that I was very proud of, because I think we did the right thing, and we delivered a very good car for for the last set.”

Bortoleto’s qualifying performance has him ahead of reigning World Champion Max Verstappen in what has been a confusingly low-key weekend for the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen and Bortoleto are known to be friends with each other, but the Brazilian doesn’t expect the four-time F1 World Champion to be anything less than ruthless with him when it comes to battle in Sunday’s race.

“It’s always difficult to keep Max behind. You know, if he wants to overtake, it’s going to be a big fight for sure,” he said.

“I don’t know how is his car on race pace – we saw we were quite competitive, but everything can change.

“Obviously, I’m excited to fight with him tomorrow, because he’s a good friend of mine, I’ve been learning a lot with him recently. So maybe we have some nice overtakes tomorrow.”

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

While Bortoleto’s Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg has scored the vast majority of the team’s 43-point tally through what has been a very competitive middle phase of the season, the rookie driver has shown signs of finding his feet and has scored points in two of the last three races.

On a day where Hulkenberg was knocked out in Q1 as he sailed on into Q3, Bortoleto said he’s keen to add to this tally on Sunday – something that may be easier if inclement weather sets in over Budapest.

“When it’s raining, you never know in Formula 1,” he said, “but I believe we can be fighting for the points.”

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