Two youngsters cause a spectacle in the first few meters in Monaco – with a worse outcome for Gabriel Bortoleto: This is how the duel with Kimi Antonelli unfolded
They already know each other well from Formula 2, but in their rookie year in the premier class, they haven’t had much to do with each other so far: While Kimi Antonelli has consistently scored points with Mercedes, Gabriel Bortoleto has mostly struggled at the back of the field with Sauber.
In Monaco, however, the tables were turned when the Italian crashed in qualifying and ended up in 15th place on the grid, just one position ahead of Bortoleto. In hindsight, this was good for the spectators, as the two youngsters provided plenty of action, at least on the opening lap, in what was otherwise a rather uneventful Grand Prix!
First, Bortoleto overtook his rival, who is two years his junior, on the outside of the Loews hairpin, a rare and impressive maneuver. However, Antonelli was clearly not willing to be shown up in this way and launched a fierce counterattack just two corners later at Portier, which ended with the Brazilian crashing into the barrier as he tried to avoid him.
Antonelli: “It was an aggressive move, but…”
“I think it was an aggressive move, but at the end of the day, I didn’t touch him,” said Antonelli, who clearly sees the corner as his: “I was ahead at the apex of the corner. Of course, you don’t want to see anyone in the wall, that was never my intention. But as I said, there was no contact, and I tried to leave him as much space as possible.”
However, the Mercedes rookie is not surprised by the outcome: “Monaco is extremely tight, situations like this can happen,” he explains. Referring to his hard defense, Antonelli adds: “Of course, I didn’t want to lose the position because my goal was to stay with George, especially because of our strategy. That’s why I tried to fight back immediately.”
However, Antonelli justifies his actions as being well within the rules: “I don’t think there was anything special or dirty about it. I’ve looked at the onboard footage again and there was no contact. Yes, it was an aggressive move, but as I said, my goal was simply to overtake.”
His own team boss contradicts an angry Bortoleto
Bortoleto naturally sees things a little differently: “I overtook him in turn six, and then he tried a ‘dive bomb’ maneuver in turn eight, where there have been many accidents in the past. When you start a dive bomb like that, you have to be fully committed.”
The Sauber driver describes it from his perspective: “I was already fully into the corner because I never expected an attack at that point. I still tried to stay on the track and hoped he would leave me a little space – but he didn’t leave me any space at all,” complained the rookie.
“So I ended up in the wall because I had to swerve to avoid hitting him on the inside. Ultimately, I would have ended up in the wall either way,” said Bortoleto, lamenting his hopeless situation. However, even his own team boss sees things a little differently after the race: “I’ve always been a fan of good, clean, and hard racing—and I think that’s what we saw,” reveals Sauber’s Jonathan Wheatley.
Former racing driver and ServusTV expert Philipp Eng also clearly sides with Antonelli after seeing the slow-motion footage: “Kimi didn’t let it go, he stuck his nose back in. There was no contact,” says the Austrian: “In my opinion, it was a spotless maneuver by Kimi Antonelli.”
At least it was a blessing in disguise for Bortoleto, who lost the duel: despite the accident, he was able to continue his first Grand Prix in Monaco: “The impact wasn’t very strong, so I knew it was probably just the front wing. I then reset and continued,” said the Sauber driver, describing his chaotic first lap.
“It’s a shame because when you make a pit stop here and lose 20 seconds, it’s practically game over,” said Bortoleto, who finished his Monaco debut in 14th place. But Antonelli also failed to get going after the tricky scene and got stuck in traffic: “We tried to achieve something with our strategy, but unfortunately it didn’t work out,” he said, summing up his 17th place finish in a rather sobering manner.
