Bortoleto shows his early F1 class again in response to Marko “B driver” jibe

In issuing a cultured response to Pink Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko branding him as solely a “B” calibre driver, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto has continued his robust begin to life within the Components 1 media highlight glare.

Two weeks in the past within the Bahrain check, Bortoleto was frank however angst-less in discussing how restrictions on F1’s Testing of Earlier Vehicles (TPC) rule – lower to 1,000km over simply 4 days and break up throughout each drivers in a workforce – means he arrives as one of many least ready drivers within the championship’s historical past given the continued restriction on pre- and in-season testing.

By comparability, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was in a position to log practically 5,000 miles of operating in older after which present equipment forward of his F1 bow in 2007.

A few of Bortoleto’s deficit stems from his late signing for Sauber in November 2024 – because it meant he didn’t full prolonged TPC programmes akin to these run by Alpine for Jack Doohan forward of his F1 commencement.

Now on the bottom in Melbourne for the 2025 season opener after talking eloquently on one niggling matter for rookie drivers in Bahrain, Bortoleto needed to confront one other in being questioned on the barbs of Marko.

Showing on Pink Bull’s in-house broadcaster ServusTV on Monday, Marko was requested to grade the 5 2025 rookies aside from Liam Lawson.

He declared Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Haas driver Oliver Bearman as “A” drivers – albeit with caveats relating to strain on the previous in debuting in F1 with Mercedes and a query in regards to the dangers he views because the latter typically taking – and gave the identical ‘grade’ to new Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar.

Marko dismissed Alpine’s Jack Doohan – one other Pink Bull junior between 2017-2021 – as a “C driver – I don’t suppose he’ll full the complete season” and gave Bortoleto only one grade greater.

“I’d charge him a B driver,” mentioned Marko. “He’s a really clever racer – he received the Components 3 championship [in 2023], however with just one victory. He tends to remain out of hassle.

“In Components 2, he had solely two wins. He’s a driver who brings the automotive residence, has a stable grasp of technique and tyre administration, however I don’t see that final velocity in him.”

When these feedback have been put to Bortoleto in Melbourne, he replied: “I don’t care. I’ve seen that and I like challenges.

“Listening to that from Helmut – he’s a man who has put a number of expertise in Components 1 and has put a number of incorrect abilities in F1. So, you possibly can see he acquired it proper and incorrect and hopefully I’ll show him incorrect.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Crew, Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Crew, Carlos Sainz, Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Pictures

“However nothing I say now within the media will change his thoughts – simply my outcomes on monitor. I’m positive I’ll show him incorrect in some unspecified time in the future and hopefully he’ll admit this.

“For now, I’m simply focussing on doing my job and bettering and doing one of the best I can. I’m pleased with what I did within the junior collection and I received in F2 and F3 towards the Pink Bull drivers he has, so good for me.”

Additionally talking in Melbourne was Fernando Alonso – who has Bortoleto signed to his A14 administration firm.

Whereas not requested about Marko’s feedback, Alonso as an alternative opined once more on Bortoleto’s “dedication and his professionalism in the direction of racing” – after being filled with reward for his cost late in 2024.

“[That] has been in all probability essentially the most spectacular factor,” Alonso added. “Since day one, he was very dedicated to work arduous for his goals – already in FRECA however then in Components 3 after which Components 2, every race was very effectively ready and a really mature method.

“I believe he deserves to be in Components 1 and hopefully [has] a protracted profession right here and [is] profitable. He has been one of the best rookie of this subsequent era that we see so many rookies [coming] into F1 this 12 months.

“He has been one of the best of them, so [although] perhaps he does not have the automotive in the mean time to match their outcomes the primary 12 months, hopefully individuals remember what he did within the final two.”

With monitor periods in Melbourne now underneath a day away, Bortoleto doesn’t have lengthy to attend in his quiet quest to show one in all F1’s greatest talkers incorrect.