Gabriel Bortoleto: Nice to be in the top ten

      Gabriel Bortoleto advanced to the sprint qualifying final at Spa. The Brazilian Sauber driver posted the tenth time and noted the high speed of the car. Nico Hülkenberg qualified seventeenth, explaining his results by traffic on his second fast lap.

      Gabriel Bortoleto (10th): "I am very happy to have made it to the final today. Of course, this is just sprint qualifying, but it’s still nice to be in the top ten. The car was fast throughout the session. I even have a feeling that I could have achieved more in the final. Overall, I had a strong qualifying, and making it into the top ten is encouraging. The car is fast, but we’ll see what the pace is like in the sprint. If we do everything right, we’ll be able to compete for similar positions in the upcoming sessions."

      Nico Hülkenberg (17th): "Sprint qualifying is always challenging – short format, one set of tires, and everything depends on the first lap. Unfortunately, the first attempt didn’t go as planned, and on the second, I got caught in traffic at the end of the warm-up lap, getting too close to Liam Lawson, which affected my fast lap. The tires were not in optimal condition, and the speed was not enough. There is work to do before tomorrow’s qualifying and race. Today, after the session, we adjusted the settings, which was a step in the right direction, but there’s potential to get more speed out of the car. We will analyze the gathered data and do our best in the sprint."