Gabriel Bortoleto said his first-lap crash in the Monaco Grand Prix was the result of a “very optimistic” move by Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Sauber driver passed the Mercedes earlier in the first lap. Bortoleto believes his rival took a risk trying to repass him two corners later because he felt embarrassed about being overtaken in Monaco.
“It’s a shame what happened there in the first lap,” said Bortoleto. “I think I managed to make a very solid move in the [Fairmont] hairpin, it was very nice [on] the outside gaining that position.
“Obviously he doesn’t want to see any car ahead of him. Losing a position in Monaco is quite embarrassing, it is bad because normally, historically, you don’t lose position but you don’t gain as well.
“I think he tried a very optimistic move there. We have seen a lot of crashes in the past there, it’s not the first time.”
Although he was able to continue, Bortoleto said his race was ruined by his crash at Portier.
“He ended up not touching me, but he just went straight, and to avoid crashing into him I crashed into the wall and just destroyed my front wing. I needed to reverse, go back to the pits and unfortunately that’s how my race ended up.”
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“For sure he didn’t want to put me in the wall or anything,” Bortoleto added. “He ended up doing it, in my opinion.
“For sure at some point I will talk to him, but I need to think about it. I don’t want to create any trouble. We are not fighting for any title or podium or any points in that moment so I don’t see a reason why he would do that and risk something like that.
“At the same time, we are racing, so we need to race hard with each other but there’s a limit always for everything.”
Having been last on the first lap, Bortoleto finished 14th. He said he spent the rest of his race stuck in traffic.
“It’s a shame because I think we could have tried some nice stuff today in the strategy,” he said. “But then the race was quite boring after with everyone doing team plays and everything. I couldn’t do much more than what I did.”
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