Terrifying Brazilian GP sprint crash as car goes airborne and suffers huge impact | F1 | Sport

Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a terrifying crash on the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday, hitting the inside barrier after losing control of his Sauber machine before barrelling into the outside wall. Fortunately, the home hero was able to climb out of his car unassisted, but the C45 was destroyed.

The Brazilian racer was fighting with Isack Hadjar when he spotted an opportunity to dive down the inside at Turn One. In doing so, he lost control of the car and was sent into a high-speed spin, colliding with two walls before coming to rest on the run-off area. Part of his front wing even lodged itself into the underbody of Alex Albon, who was running in front of the two rookies.

The shunt leaves Bortoleto’s participation in qualifying in doubt, with the Sauber engineers facing a long afternoon of work in Sao Paulo. The Hinwil-based team were also forced to repair Nico Hulkenberg‘s car after the veteran followed Oscar Piastri into the wall on the exit of Turn Two on lap eight.

Providing an update on the rookie’s status, Sky Sports F1 pit reporter Ted Kravitz said: “And that’s the most important thing. I think that’s what he was most keen to get out on the radio, why he was saying effectively ‘I am okay’, because the whole family Bortoleto is here – grandparents, parents, of course his immediate family as well.

“So he wanted to get that straight that he was basically, effectively okay, and then the issue can be as to what happens to his car for Grand Prix qualifying and the race itself. So the job begins now. They’ll start to identify what they can replace, whether the tub needs changing.

“Your guess at the moment would be that it does. And then they’ll make the call on whether he can just start from the pit lane or the back of the grid, having not done qualifying, as it looks at the moment.”

Bortoleto’s rivals’ reactions summed up the gravity of the incident. “I just hope he’s okay,” Albon told Sky Sports F1. “These walls around Sao Paulo, especially into turn one… I had a very similar crash in qualifying last year, and it hurts. I know he said he’s okay, but it’s still a big crash. I don’t know anything about the crash. I need to review it. I don’t know if I could have done anything to avoid it. But I feel for him and I hope he’s okay.”

Hadjar, who was the car battling the Brazilian racer, added: “Yeah, that was very scary, very impressive from behind. He had a very good overtake on the lap before and he obviously tried it again but got caught out by a wet patch or something. That was quite scary.”

Aside from Bortoleto’s crash, Piastri’s shunt was the major story from Saturday’s sprint race. The 24-year-old was enjoying a stronger weekend after a five-race run of failing to finish ahead of Lando Norris or Max Verstappen, and was running third when he ran across a wet kerb on the inside of the track.

The moisture caused Piastri to lose control of his MCL39 machine, sending him spinning into the wall on the corner exit. Norris, meanwhile, went on to bring home all eight points available, stretching his World Championship advantage to nine heading into the Grand Prix on Sunday.