Points and pain: Wheatley reflects on Sauber’s bittersweet Italian GP

Sauber left Monza with mixed emotions after Gabriel Bortoleto continued his strong rookie campaign with another top-ten finish, while Nico Hulkenberg’s race ended before it had even begun.

The contrasting fortunes forced team principal Jonathan Wheatley into the delicate task of praising one side of the garage while consoling the other.

The Swiss outfit was initially optimistic of securing a double points finish in the Italian Grand Prix, with both cars showing competitive pace across practice and qualifying.

But when Hulkenberg was told to bring his car into the pits during the formation lap, the plan was thrown into chaos. That left Bortoleto as Sauber’s only hope of salvaging a result.

Wheatley admitted the afternoon was bittersweet.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s always hard as a team principal when one driver doesn’t start the race and the other one gets points,” he said. “But look, you can’t take anything away from the weekend. We had genuine pace, I think, this weekend.”

Bortoleto Delivers Again

Bortoleto, starting from seventh on the grid, absorbed the pressure of Monza’s high-speed demands with a mature drive that netted eighth place.

Though he slipped behind Lewis Hamilton early on, the Brazilian rookie fended off more seasoned rivals and brought home valuable points once more.

“Gabriel put a strong performance in all the way through the weekend and he just delivered a brilliant race today,” Wheatley said. “I think he got everything he could out of the car.”

The 19-year-old’s afternoon wasn’t without its battles. He benefitted when his mentor, Fernando Alonso, retired with a rear suspension failure, but ultimately could not match the race pace of Alex Albon’s Williams, who pulled clear by seven seconds in the pair’s battle for P7.

“Actually, the race panned out as we expected it to. We had to cover Lawson, which probably you all saw. You split the race into two, ultimately, on the Medium and Hard,” Wheatley explained.
“The Hard looked like a really good race tyre today. But then, again, I don’t think I can take away from the fact that Albon had serious pace.”

Hulkenberg’s Day Ends Before It Starts

For Hulkenberg, the story was one of pure frustration. Lining up 12th, the German never got the chance to build on Sauber’s promise.

With two-thirds of the formation lap completed, his race engineer instructed him to box – prompting an incredulous response from the veteran: “Oh man, you serious?” he asked over team radio before pulling into the pits and retiring.

Wheatley later explained what had gone wrong.

“Yeah, everything was fine on the grid. That was my first pass up and down it,” he said. “And then we did a normal fire-up on the grid and noticed a hydraulic fault.

“You might have seen us putting a little bit more hydraulic fluid in the car. But ultimately, with it being a new PU, we decided to retire the car to be safe. It’s a shame.

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“It was a real shame for Nico, because I’m sure he was capable of points today. And it would have been very good for us, championship-wise, to have both drivers in points.”

Sauber’s mixed Monza means they leave with fewer points than they might have hoped, but with another feather in the cap of their promising young talent.

For Wheatley, the message was clear: disappointment for Hulkenberg, but plenty of encouragement in the pace of the car – and in Bortoleto’s rising stock.

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