New-for-2025 Sauber Method 1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto has revealed he has “at all times admired” Max Verstappen and his driving fashion, inserting the Dutchman alongside Ayrton Senna as his inspiration in racing.
Bortoleto, who leads the F2 championship heading into the ultimate two rounds of the season, was introduced final week as Sauber’s second new recruit alongside Nico Hulkenberg within the group’s remaining marketing campaign earlier than its transition into Audi’s works outfit.
The Brazilian has due to this fact left McLaren’s growth programme to pursue the chance, having impressed in his rookie F2 season after clinching the F3 title in 2023.
Requested by the F1 Nation podcast which of the drivers he admired – apart from Fernando Alonso, who acts as Bortoleto’s supervisor – the Brazilian replied: “From these days, I actually like how Max drives, within the sense of… I actually admire his quali laps and the way a lot he extracts of the automotive in these laps, the way in which he drives and races.
“Clearly it may be very onerous,” he added, acknowledging current on-track controversies after Verstappen was penalised for driving requirements on the Mexico Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing RB20
Picture by: Purple Bull Content material Pool
“We now have seen within the final races, however clearly they’re combating for a world championship, so all of us anticipate them to race one another like that.”
Explaining a connection to Verstappen, Bortoleto defined: “I’ve at all times admired how Max drives – since I used to be very younger, as a result of I used to be a part of a group in go-karts that he grew up with, in order that they at all times advised me tales about him, and I used to be at all times like, ‘OK, what would Max do on this state of affairs?’
“I needed at all times to be a bit like him, as a result of he received each single factor he did in junior collection.”
Returning to his nationwide hero, Bortoleto insisted: “Clearly, my greatest hero is Ayrton Senna, for the driving force he was, for every part he did on observe, but additionally outdoors of the observe, I feel he was an incredible particular person with nice morals, and the legacy he left behind, and every part he did for Brazil, I feel that is one thing I’m impressed by.”