Bortoleto walks away from huge Interlagos sprint crash as Sauber races the clock
Gabriel Bortoleto gave his home crowd a scare at Interlagos with a violent last-lap crash in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint — and then gave them the best possible news. He’s fine.
The 21-year-old Brazilian, dicing with Alex Albon for the final point in 10th, speared off at the end of the pit straight with DRS still open, clipped the concrete along the pit wall and shot across to the outside barrier at Turn 1. The impact was brutal enough to rip the steering wheel clear, and the Sauber briefly puffed smoke as marshals rushed in.
After a precautionary trip to the medical centre, Bortoleto was released without injury. Sauber put out the all-clear and thanked the marshals and medical staff, adding the inevitable next step on a sprint Saturday: heavy repairs, fast.
“Gabriel is ok and uninjured after checks,” the team said, noting the focus had already moved to getting the car turned around for qualifying later in the day.
Team principal Jonathan Wheatley sounded relieved and realistic in equal measure on F1 TV: Bortoleto’s good to go, the car… less so. “I’m sure he’ll be ready for qualifying, just not sure about his car,” he said. “Obviously we’re just going to build a new car. There’s no time to mess around with the one that we have.”
From the onboard and trackside angles, the sequence looked like the classic Interlagos trap. With DRS still deployed in the braking phase at the end of that long, bumpy main straight — damp patches never far away — the rear stepped out and that was that. He narrowly missed Albon’s Williams as the Sauber ricocheted toward the outer wall.
It capped a sprint that started messy and stayed twitchy. Earlier, a Turn 3 tangle brought out the red flag as Oscar Piastri, Nico Hülkenberg and Franco Colapinto all found the wall on a greasy Lap 6 restart. Hülkenberg got going again; Piastri and Colapinto were done. Colapinto was also checked over in the medical centre and later released.
Up front, Lando Norris kept his title charge humming with the sprint win, the McLaren driver tightening his grip at the top of the 2025 standings. He managed the restarts, kept his nose clean, and did what championship leaders tend to do on days when the track’s out to get you.
For Bortoleto, the immediate concern is hardware. A shunt of that magnitude typically means a monocoque inspection at minimum and a long list of replace-everything-quick parts. On a compressed sprint Saturday, any change of survival cell or major rebuild could push Sauber toward a late call and a rougher Sunday. They’ll try to avoid that — and the home fans will be desperate to see their man back out for quali.
It’s a harsh lesson at home for the São Paulo native, but one with a fortunate ending. He walked away, he’s cleared, and there’s still time on the clock. Now it’s down to the garage to pull the all-nighter in broad daylight.
