Gabriel Bortoleto says a radio message from the Monaco Grand Prix in which he referred to putting Andrea Kimi Antonelli “in the wall” has been misrepresented.
The pair clashed on the first lap of the race after Bortoleto passed the Mercedes driver at the Fairmont hairpin. Antonelli retaliated at Portier, passing the Sauber driver on the inside, causing Bortoleto to slide into a barrier.
Bortoleto was able to rejoin the race but was infuriated by his rival’s move. When race engineer Jose Manuel Lopez told him the stewards had taken no action over it, Bortoleto replied: “I will put him in the wall next time.”
The Sauber driver said this had been misinterpreted by some on social media as a threat against his rival. “Obviously people take parts of something and they clip it and it’s not like this,” he told the official F1 channel.
He said the pair have cleared the air since Sunday. “I spoke to Kimi after the race. We have, I believe, respect [for] each other since we were 10, 11 years old when we were racing in go-karts together.
“The movement, what happened in lap one, that I ended up in the wall, I made my opinion clear about what happened there.
“My radio after, people clipped it but actually I asked my engineer what happened, did they get a penalty for that, and then he said no, no penalty for what happened there. So I was like, okay, so basically if I do the same, I put him in the wall and then it doesn’t get [me] a penalty for that.
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“But [they] took it in a way that it looks like I’m going to smash the guy in the wall. But we are not here to hurt anyone.”
He said there will be no problem between the two of them if they meet on-track again. “Obviously we race hard with each other and it’s going to still be the same,” said Bortoleto.
“I’m sure in the future we will have contacts like with any other driver, but hopefully with respect and race hard, but fair.”
Bortoleto’s radio messages on his clash with Antonelli
Bortoleto reacted immediately after the pair collided:
Lap: 1/78 BOR: 2’25.564
Lopez
Okay mate, are you okay? Are you okay?Bortoleto pulls away from the crash scene and drives off
Lopez
Can you reverse?
Bortoleto
I am, okay.
Lopez
Okay, let’s reverse.
Bortoleto
Check the car. Kimi, Kimi pushed me out.
Bortoleto
Is the car okay?
Lopez
Our front wing is damaged, front wing damaged. We are boxing to change the front wing. Mode race, mode race. Mode Safety Car, mode Safety Car.
Lopez
Gabi, we are boxing for hard tyre here.
Lap: 2/78 BOR: 1’49.362
Bortoleto
Is everything okay with the car?
Lopez
Everything else is okay. Everything is okay, it was just the front wing. We saw what happened.
Bortoleto
Fucking Antonelli man! Desperate-d kid.
Lopez
Okay mate. No worries. That was clear on the TV.
Lopez
Gabi, let’s try to warm these tyres as best as we can. I know that it’s very difficult behind a Virtual Safety Car.
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When Bortoleto caught Antonelli later in the race he asked his race engineer if the stewards had penalised his rival over the incident:
Lap: 16/78 BOR: 1’20.378
Bortoleto
I think we’re catching Antonelli here, did he get a penalty for what he did?
Lopez
So Gabi, we are all on the same train and he did not get a penalty, he did not get a penalty.
Lap: 17/78 BOR: 1’20.937
Bortoleto
Okay. I will put him in the wall next time.
Lopez
Gabi, let’s focus on what we can control. Let’s maximise this scenario.
Bortoleto was still fuming over the incident at the end of the race:
Chequered flag
Lopez
I think you did all what we could do today there.
Bortoleto
Yeah. I’m going to review what happened to Antonelli there because that was not nice from my view.
Lopez
Yeah, I saw that.
Bortoleto
Literally, you know, you dive bomb someone and you go straight in the wall expecting that there will be invisible space.
Lopez
That was very unfortunate for us, and definitely cost us a little bit of the race, 100%. But after that, I think we maximised what we could, and P14 with that eventful lap one is not too bad, and as well with all those games played during the race. So good job there, we did the best we could. You did a good job there.
Bortoleto
All right, thank you very much, and thank you for the pit stops everyone and everything, very well done.
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