Bortoleto says he had the car for pole after qualifying fourth in Budapest

Gabriel Bortoleto says he and Invicta Racing must analyse how they missed out on Pole Position after the Brazilian driver ended up fourth in Friday’s Budapest Qualifying.

The McLaren Development Driver was in fine form to start the session, going to the top of the timesheets following the first set of runs, completing a lap of 1:30.269.

However, Bortoleto wound up in fourth place, missing out on Pole by two-tenths to pole-sitter Paul Aron.

QUALIFYING: Aron bounces back to beat Fittipaldi to pole in Budapest

Speaking after jumping out of the cockpit, the Invicta rookie says he was looking for answers as to what caused them miss out on top spot at the Hungaroring.

“The balance was very good, the car was looking good, I was driving well for the first push on the Softs after driving the entire morning on the Hards,” reflected Bortoleto.

“But there was just no grip on the second set. We still have to analyse the data to understand why, be honest with ourselves and understand what happened because there is always a reason for everything.”

Bortoleto was confident that he had a “car for pole” in the first run and what makes him even more confident in that is his belief that he and Invicta are performing at a high level together.

But he reiterates the need for them to understand where things went wrong ahead of the Sprint Race, where Bortoleto has fond memories.

The rookie finished second in the Formula 3 Sprint Race in Budapest last season before taking the chequered flag in seventh a day later in Feature on his way to winning the title.

READ MORE: Maloney expecting tough Budapest Qualifying after going fastest in Practice

He is confident that he and the team have the pace to have a similar set of results this year.

“Let's try to do the same as last year,” he declared. “If we have the pace, like we had in the beginning of Quali, we can do very well and finish in a good position tomorrow.

“I think we can get more points. Let's go for it. I am quite confident that we can do very well, let's try the best we can do here tomorrow and then we will see on Sunday.”