Nico Hülkenberg: I left enough room for Gasly

      Sauber’s run of four consecutive races in which the team scored points came to an end in Qatar. Nico Hülkenberg retired early in the race after a collision with Pierre Gasly. His teammate Gabriel Bortoleto finished thirteenth.

      Gabriel Bortoleto (13th): “Not the most exciting race. There were few overtakes, and for most of the distance I was stuck behind Lewis Hamilton. Once he pulled away, I couldn’t catch him and I just drove in my position.

      At the start I had a few battles, but then almost nothing happened. Nevertheless, we will learn from this weekend because we saw several areas where we can improve.

      The penalty I received in Las Vegas affected my race, but the pace itself was encouraging. If I had started fourteenth, I might have been able to fight for a place in the top ten.

      We gathered data to analyze, and now all attention is on the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.”

      Nico Hülkenberg (retired): “Very unfortunate that such a promising race ended for me so early after I was hit by Pierre. I believe we could have scored points today. I was confident in the car yesterday, and in the first seven laps of the race I had the pace.

      Opportunities to overtake on this track are limited, so I attempted an outside move, which was somewhat risky, but I left Pierre enough room. It’s a shame, because we had opportunities today.

      The team is disappointed now, but over the next few days we will regroup and try to finish the season in Abu Dhabi as well as possible.”