A confident Sauber F1 aims higher in Montreal as both drivers extract pace despite tricky traffic and tight F1 midfield margins.
Qualifying will come down to “track position.” Gabriel Bortoleto is optimistic after his first day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The Sauber F1 driver was just ahead of his teammate during FP2, despite some scares with other drivers and a pace that still needs improvement.
“It was very positive, a new circuit for me, I tried to understand how Montreal works. It was really solid, I’m very happy with what we achieved in terms of understanding the car and getting it into the right window for qualifying,” Bortoleto said.
“We found that there are things to understand and study to be in a better position on Saturday, but we’re in a good place,” continued the Brazilian, who expects a tight qualifying session.
“We’ll see what we can achieve, the field is very tight, the traffic is crazy, and the one who has the best track position will make the difference. It’s frustrating when you have a car in front of you and you come close to an accident in free practice.”
Nico Hülkenberg knows that everything will once again come down to fine details, given the small gaps in the field: “It’s very tight, as always. And the lap is short here, around 1 minute 12, but it was a normal Friday.”
“It’s a different circuit and feeling compared to Barcelona, less downforce, more low-speed corners, but it’s interesting and we’ve learned some good lessons. We made some setup changes and we’ll try to process all that.”
