Bortoleto hopes to fight for a place in the final qualifying session.

      During both Friday practice sessions, the Sauber drivers were analyzing the performance of technical upgrades, with Gabriel Bortoleto ending the day eighth fastest and even placing sixth in the first session. Nico Hülkenberg, his teammate, was dissatisfied with the car’s balance, which inevitably affected his results.

      Gabriel Bortoleto (8th): “It was a really positive day! The team did a great job working on the technical upgrades, and it seems like they are working as intended. Every time I went out on track, I felt more and more comfortable behind the wheel.

      I have always liked this circuit—I performed well here in all the junior series, and today the car felt good right from the very first lap. Of course, we understand it’s only Friday and, as always, there is still plenty of work to do, but step by step, things are starting to come together.

      If we can keep up this pace, I really hope I can fight to reach qualifying’s final session for the first time. We need to go through all the data we gathered today, keep pushing, and see what results we can achieve on Saturday.”

      Nico Hülkenberg (19th): “It was one of those Fridays where nothing really worked out. In the second session, we fitted the updated floor to the car and tried some new settings, but we couldn’t achieve the improvements we were hoping for.

      The balance was off, there wasn’t enough grip, so overall, things didn’t go very smoothly. But that’s what Fridays are for—we gathered information and tried different approaches. I’m confident that in the evening, together with the engineers, we’ll analyze everything and make the necessary adjustments before qualifying.

      Gabriel showed strong pace today and set a good benchmark, which shows the car’s potential. Tomorrow we’ll also try to achieve better pace.”