Gabriel Bortoleto in floods of tears as footage captures agony after Brazilian GP crash

Gabriel Bortoleto could not contain his emotions as he embraced his family at the end of a nightmare weekend at his home race. Born in the suburbs of Sao Paulo, the Sauber driver would have been looking forward to the Brazilian Grand Prix the most of all in his rookie season as a Formula 1 driver.

But instead of being able to shine in front of his compatriots, Bortoleto endured two gut-wrenching crashes which left him pointless. And he was overcome with emotion when he met with family members in the pit lane after failing to finish the Grand Prix, clearly feeling the pain of what had happened.

In the Sprint race, a daring overtake attempt went wrong on a slippery and damp track as he span, hitting first the inside wall at turn one before careering across the track and briefly up into the air before slamming into the barrier on the outside of the track, an impact registering at 57G and which destroyed his Sauber.

It was such a huge hit that they had to change his chassis and could not prepare it in time for qualifying a few hours later. Starting from the back and cleared by the FIA medical delegate, Bortoleto set about trying to recover in the Grand Prix, but was squeezed onto the grass by Lance Stroll on the opening lap and hit the wall, ending his race.

After trudging back to the paddock, Bortoleto was left to mourn what could have been after a hellish home race weekend. He said: "It's been a really tough weekend for me, even more so because it was my first home race and I was really hoping to have a good one in front of my family and fans.

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"You always hope to do a good job, or at least have a solid race, and not being able to complete even a single lap was very hard to take in. I had a good start, gained a position right away, and was going for another move when I made contact with Lance. It was a first-lap racing incident, and these things can happen, that's racing.

"The support from our fans this weekend has been incredible. Even through the difficult moments, they kept cheering, shouting my name, and showing so much love. I can't thank them enough - it means everything to me.

"Seeing how much it means to my country makes me proud and I hope I can give them something to celebrate soon. Weekends like this are tough for everyone, but we'll move on and come back stronger for the final three races of the season."