Gabriel Bortoleto’s Canadian Grand Prix was almost undone even before the first lap of the race weekend after a thief stole his backpack, including his passport.

As the F1 drivers took advantage of a week off between Monaco and Montreal, Sauber driver Bortoleto headed to Switzerland with Sauber based in Hinwil.

Gabriel Bortoleto’s Canadian GP almost derailed by thief

His week soon turned into a nightmare.

A thief broke into a car while he was in Switzerland and stole his backpack, which included important documents such as his passport.

Fortunately, his documents were recovered and he was able to make the trip over to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.

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“I had gone to dinner one day in Switzerland and they ended up opening the car and taking my backpack,” Bortoleto told Brazilian media.

“I had my passports, everything inside, my computer, all my running gear.

“It was chaos, but we managed to find the guy.

“Everything worked out in the end, I have my passports. We didn’t find everything, but we did find some things.”

Bortoleto arrived at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as one of three drivers, the other being the Alpine line-up of Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan, yet to score a point.

But on the back of his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg’s P5 in Spain, he believes his first top-ten result is on the horizon.

“Well, honestly, I think so far [it] has been quite good,” Bortoleto said. “The new tracks I have been able to adapt to.

“I think I have a very strong team-mate, so it’s also a good data reference to see new tracks and to learn new things. [But] I don’t think new tracks are the biggest topic for rookies.

“I think there are other things involved in your rookie season that are a bit more complicated, such as the media. In F2, you don’t have any of these things.

“So basically, you get to the track on Thursday, you talk to your engineers, you have your free time, you think about only racing, and that’s it.”

He conceded that the pressure put on F1 drivers with media commitments and PR events was still something he was getting used to.

“In F1, you have so many more commitments to attend, for sponsors, for media,” explained the Stake F1 driver. “It doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It’s just that it takes more of your time than normal in all the other series.

“I started racing when I was six, and for, let’s say, almost 15 years, I have never had anything like this before.

“In the few months that I’ve been racing in Formula 1, you need to get used to all this media and time allocation for you guys and for the sponsors, and still perform the best you can on track. I would say this is the biggest topic for rookies.”

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