Gabriel Bortoleto insists his near-miss of a high-speed accident in Japan was the result of "brain failure."
In Free Practice 3, the Stake driver was approaching 130R at the end of the back-straight and as he moved to the right to open up the left-hander, inadvertently dipped a wheel onto the grass, nearly losing control.
The reigning F2 champion radioed in that he felt he had a tyre problem, but the incident was entirely of Bortoleto's own-making as he placed 17th in the session.
Bortoleto, who travelled back to the Stake factory at Hinwil between the Japan and Bahrain back-to-back races, reflected on the minor misjudgement but felt that the incident was normal for a grand prix driver.
"It was just a brain failure," Bortoleto told media including RacingNews365 in Bahrain.
"I don't need to change positions or anything, it happens as we are trying to open up as much as we can all the corners.
"It happened that I opened slightly a bit more than normal, I touched the rear tyre and it fully pushed the car, but it was not as bad as it appeared in the on-board.
"But we are always so much on the edge on the entries trying to open the corners and everything, so it is fully normal.
"We saw Fernando [Alonso] doing that, and other drivers in the past."
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