He walks past F1.com as a man on a mission, his body language appearing confident and his eyes laser focused, followed a few moments later by Hulkenberg, who shares some laughs with Haas mechanics seeing him in another race suit after two seasons with the team.
Weaving his way between shipment containers bound for the first test and races of next season, and the international photographers still in town, Bortoleto soon disappears down a narrow corridor taking him the back of the Sauber garage and the car he will be driving.
ANALYSIS: Why Sauber chose to go with Bortoleto and youth rather than Bottas and experience
Ten minutes out, Bortoleto adopts full concentration mode, slotting in a set of perfectly moulded earplugs, placing a fireproof balaclava over his head and popping on a striking yellow, green and blue helmet – reminiscent of late, great national hero Ayrton Senna’s.
0900 – Getting down to business
As the clock strikes nine and the green light switches on at the end of the pit lane, Bortoleto and the rest of the attending drivers hit the track and start racking up some valuable mileage.
The outfit’s dedicated ‘young driver’ for the test (i.e. someone who has competed in two or fewer Grands Prix), Bortoleto is given access to the same Pirelli tyre compounds used over the Abu Dhabi race weekend – two sets of C3s, four sets of C4s and two sets of C5s.
That differs considerably to Hulkenberg’s programme, with the experienced German instead sampling the homologated versions of Pirelli’s 2025 tyres, which include a new ultra-soft C6 compound to expand the manufacturer’s already comprehensive range.
