GABRIEL BORTOLETO crashed out of his home race in Brazil for the second time over the weekend as his model girlfriend looked distraught in the paddock.
Sauber rookie Bortoleto had been looking forward to racing around his home circuit of Interlagos.
However, after suffering a terrifying crash which sent him airborne during Saturday’s sprint race, the 21-year-old’s race weekend went from bad to worse as he crashed out of Sunday’s feature race as well.
Bortoleto said over the radio that Lance Stroll had pushed him off the track.
It was agony for the driver on his F1 home debut, for the crowd and for his loved ones watching on from the pitlane.
That included his girlfriend Isabella Bernardini.
She looked distraught as Bortoleto’s Interlagos nightmare continued.
Isabella, a computer science student, is said to have been dating Bortoleto since 2020.
They have kept their relationship out of the public eye, but she has been spotted supporting him at races throughout his rookie F1 season.
Opening lap chaos also saw Lewis Hamilton tagged in the early stages and pick up damage on his front wing which prompted him to make an early pit stop.
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However, the Bortoleto crash had triggered a safety car.
But the restart did not tone down the chaos, with Charles Leclerc losing a wheel when he was hit by Kimi Antonelli on the restart after the Mercedes driver was pushed into him by Oscar Piastri diving up the inside of Turn 1.
Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
