The only driver to do a three-stopper at Imola, Gabriel Bortoleto learned a harsh lesson in Formula 1’s game of strategy and chance as he got “f**ked” by the VSC on Sunday.

It what is proving to be a difficult first season in Formula 1, Bortoleto’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix wasn’t any different as he lined up 14th on the grid but lost positions in the race.

Gabriel Bortoleto came off on the wrong side of a VSC

Running in the back half of the field, the Sauber rookie was one the first in that battle to pit, hoping to use the undercut to make up positions.

But instead, it cost him positions as a Virtual Safety Car for Esteban Ocon’s stricken Haas on lap 29 gave the drivers intent on a one-stop strategy a cheap pit stop.

Bortoleto also pitted as he was now up against drivers on fresh tyres, but last in, he was also last out.

That saw Sauber throw the dice, pitting him for a third time when the Safety Car came out on lap 46 when Kimi Antonelli stopped on the side of the track.

But as Race Control took six laps to clear Antonelli’s car and allow a lapped backmarker, Oliver Bearman, to rejoin at the back of the field, Bortoleto’s opportunities lessened with each lap. He even lost out to Bearman after the restart.

“I got f***ed with the Virtual Safety Car,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “No swearing, sorry.

“I mean, I think we got a bit unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car at the beginning. We went completely the opposite of our strategy, and then we tried the three-stop.

“We need to check why we did that and understand because we lost a lot of time there.

“Honestly, the pace on the hards was okay, it was good. Just a shame that we could not show that in the results.”

More on the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

👉 Emilia Romagna GP driver ratings: A drop for Piastri with Verstappen perfect

👉 Imola GP conclusions: Verstappen’s Piastri lesson, McLaren’s fear, Tsunoda’s wobble

Alas, he accepts teams cannot predict when there will be a Safety Car or when Race Control will give Bernd Mayländer the instruction to return to the pits. The teams only get a short warning.

“I don’t know why they took so long,” he said of the full Safety Car period. “Maybe because the car was still on track, and I think you see the safety. But again, I need to review.

“You cannot predict when a Safety Car is coming in or not. So I think we took what we had to take, and what we discussed before the race, and it was just not the right moment at the right time.

“But yes, it’s easy now to say that maybe if I started on the hards, I would be on the points and happy days, but it was not the case. So we started on medium, we got the first bit of Safety Car, and then we tried a third stop that maybe didn’t work as we expected.”

The result meant Bortoleto is one of five drivers yet to get off the mark this season.

But there is a glimmer of hope as he believes Sauber showed good pace at Imola, it was just bad timing that hurt them.

“Honestly, I need to check, I don’t know,” he said when asked about his race pace. “I don’t have a time of the other drivers to compare, but the cars that were ahead of me, Gasly and Lawson. For a big part of the race I was following them and not losing anything.

“So it looks like we were strong. They also got a bit on the wrong side of the Virtual Safety Car because Gasly was on the same strategy as me, and he was starting quite ahead, and then he finished in the back as well. So I think so but it doesn’t change the fact that we finish where we finished.”

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