Gabriel Bortoleto had a hilarious moment of reveal as he realized that he had been talking to his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg's social media manager, thinking it was the driver. The two were discussing social media trends when this happened.
Sauber signed both Hulkenberg and Bortoleto this season as they changed their entire driver lineup, with a promising rookie and a proven, experienced driver. Both of them have managed to deliver competitive performances for the team, including Hulkenberg's podium at Silverstone earlier, giving Sauber a major boost in the championship.
The teammates share good chemistry outside of racing and are also connected on social media. In a recent interview, they were discussing social media trends on TikTok, when Nico Hulkenberg claimed that he did not understand one of the references since he does not use the application.
A shocked Gabriel Bortoleto then replied that he follows him, and has also chatted, suggesting that he spoke to his teammate's social media manager instead.
"I'm not on TikTok," Hulkenberg said. "No? But I follow you, we chat sometimes. Who am I chatting with?" Bortoleto laughed.Bortoleto has been one of the more competitive rookie drivers this season, managing to score points despite not being in the fastest car.
Gabriel Bortoleto looks back at his uneventful Singapore GP
Despite hoping to improve on his Baku performance, Bortoleto suffered a similar fate in Singapore as he finished the race outside the points. He started the race down in P14, with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll right behind him.
Navigating through the tight chicanes on the opening lap, the two drivers made contact, which resulted in Bortoleto's wing getting damaged, hampering his performance for the entire race's length.
Speaking to the media after the race, Gabriel Bortoleto explained that it was a part of racing, but the damage did affect his laptime.
"What happened in Turn 1 was unfortunate, three-wide into one, sometimes I think these things happen," he said (via F1). "I don't think it's anyone's fault there, it's just racing and unfortunately we ended up touching, broke the endplate and because we lost a lot of lap time in that first stint the gaps were pulled away in that moment."He added:
"From there on I think our race was a bit gone and then we pitted for changing the front wing and tyres and we ended up staying very long in the race and degradation was quite high for us, so no tyres at the end."Gabriel Bortoleto has scored 18 points this season so far, with a best finish of P6 in Hungary earlier.
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Edited by Gunaditya Tripathi