Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were left to reflect on a frustrating Japanese Grand Prix as neither driver was able to make much progress in the race, the Brazilian rookie coming home in P19 while the German took P16. Bortoleto’s race got off to the worst possible start when he picked up wheelspin off the line on what looked a slightly greasy portion of the track following earlier rain. Starting on the hard compound tyres did not help the rookie, as three cars shot past him right from the off.
READ MORE: Leclerc admits Ferrari have ‘got to work’ on performance after P4 in Japan as Hamilton reflects on ‘lonely race’ to P7 They included Haas’ Esteban Ocon – who was also on the“But anyways, Ocon was in the same strategy as me and he managed to… he had a better pull away at the start and overtook me, and I got stuck behind him the whole race. I think I was faster through the whole race honestly. It was just not enough pace advantage to overtake.” One thing all the rookies are continuing to do is learn – about their cars, the tyres, how to extract the best from their set-ups and how to fight wheel-to-wheel with their rivals. Bortoleto is no different, as he continues to adjust to life as an F1 driver. READ MORE: Lawson looks for positives from Racing Bulls return as race gamble ‘didn’t really work’ “I’m leaving Suzuka satisfied with how the weekend As for Hulkenberg, the German was another who could not make much progress through the field on Sunday. He was on the same medium-hard tyre strategy as the majority of the field, and came home behind the Alpine of Doohan. “The car didn’t feel too bad today, and I would have liked the chance to explore its full potential a bit more,” Hulkenberg said afterwards. “But Suzuka is a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, and that really defined the race. READ MORE: Stella explains why McLaren’s hands were tied in strategic Japanese GP battle against Verstappen “I spent most of the time in traffic, which made it hard to make any real progress and ultimately turned it into a fairly uneventful race. That’s obviously
