Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto voiced his frustration following his opening-lap clash with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli during last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
While the young Brazilian ultimately recovered to finish 14th, the run-in left him with a damaged front wing and lingering questions about his rival’s judgement.
The spat occurred just moments after Bortoleto had executed a bold move around the outside of the Grand Hotel hairpin to snatch P15 from Antonelli. However, his lead was short-lived.
Heading into Portier, the Italian dived back up the inside in a daring maneuver that ended with Bortoleto veering in the barriers – forcing him to reverse out and pit for repairs.
“A Very Optimistic Move”
Though many in the paddock saw Antonelli’s move as legitimate and opportunistic, Bortoleto’s view was that the risk outweighed the reward – especially so early in the race.
“It’s a shame what happened there on the first lap, I think I managed to make a very solid move in Turn 6 in the hairpin, so it was very nice around the outside and I gained a position,” Bortoleto said.
“Obviously, he doesn’t want to see any car ahead of him, losing a position in Monaco is quite embarrassing, it’s bad because normally, historically you don’t lose position but you don’t gain as well.
“And I think he tried a very optimistic move there. We have seen a lot of crashes there in the past, it’s not the first time.
“He didn’t touch me, but he just went straight and to avoid crashing into him, I crashed into the wall and destroyed my front wing, needed to reverse, go back to the pits and unfortunately that’s how my race ended up.”
Read also: F1i Driver Ratings for the 2025 Monaco GPThe incident, while not penalized by the stewards, left Bortoleto in a strategic hole, as Sauber’s hopes of capitalizing on the race’s two pit-stop rule were thwarted by their lack of pace and the midfield tactics of teams like Racing Bulls and Williams.
To Speak or Not to Speak
As one of four rookies on the 2025 grid, alongside Antonelli, Haas’ Oliver Bearman, and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Bortoleto is navigating the steep learning curve of Formula 1 while racing for a Sauber team yet to score points this season.
The Monaco clash, while not a battle for podiums, highlighted the intensity of rookie rivalries, all of whom carry high expectations from their junior careers.
Bortoleto questioned whether whether to address his clash with Antonelli directly with the Mercedes charger.
“I don’t know. For sure he didn’t want to put me in the wall or anything,” he said. “He ended up doing it in my opinion. At some point I will talk to him but I don’t know, I need to think about it.
“I don’t want to create any trouble, it’s not like we are fighting for any title here or podium or any points in that moment, so I don’t see why he would do that, would risk something like that.
“At the same time, we are racing so we need to race hard against each other, but there is a limit.”
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