Max Verstappen revealed that he went out of his way to help rookie Gabriel Bortoleto during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull racer was forced to abort his final Q3 lap and reacted by giving the Sauber starlet a big tow down the start-finish straight. Bortoleto has endured a difficult rookie season to date and heads into the Austrian GP still searching for his first F1 points. Much of this is due to Sauber's struggles in terms of performance.

The Hinwil squad have been at the bottom end of the pecking order for a couple of years and nearly went the entire 2024 season pointless before Zhou Guanyu's Qatar heroics spared their blushes. However, the Brazilian's frustrations could now end on Sunday. Bortoleto finished eighth in Q3 on Saturday, beating out both Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly. He was consistently fast throughout the first two parts of qualifying, too, capping off a day to remember for Sauber's young hotshot.

Bortoleto's excellent Q3 lap was bolstered by some help from a friend and rival. Verstappen, whose final run was ruined by Gasly's sector three spin, gave the 20-year-old some assistance.

"My lap was already ruined, I saw him behind me, and he has had a really good weekend, so I thought, let me help him a bit," the four-time world champion told Viaplay after stepping out of the cockpit at the Red Bull Ring.

Bortoleto also addressed the slipstream benefit he enjoyed and revealed that he attempted to return the favour. ''Max always gives me tows," he explained. "He's the best! He's always super kind. I tried to give him a tow as well from T8 to T9, but then there was a yellow flag - but I tried my best, I even took the charge off the car to boost the engine!''

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