After an prolonged interval of mulling over its driving choices for Formulation 1’s 2025 season and past, Sauber had discovered itself in a binary selection between expertise and youth. The Swiss outfit, which turns into Audi in 2026, has opted for the latter; Valtteri Bottas will go away the staff on the finish of the yr, and F2 championship chief Gabriel Bortoleto will be a part of within the Finn’s place.
Sauber’s hiring of the promising Bortoleto provides Brazil one in all its personal full-time F1 drivers to assist since Felipe Massa left the grid on the finish of 2017. Bortoleto joins an illustrious solid of names to hail from the South American nation: Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Carlos Tempo, Rubens Barrichello, et al, and can hope to have the possibility to string his personal legacy into F1’s wealthy tapestry – if he is capable of stand up to hurry and impress, after all.
That is the end result of a whirlwind few years for Bortoleto, who scarcely featured on the radar of most within the F1 paddock till he began profitable races in Formulation 3 – and, ultimately, the title – in his debut season. McLaren promptly snapped him up for its junior staff, however was adamant that it could not stand in his means if an F1 seat grew to become out there. Because of his spectacular efficiency in F2 this yr, his first season within the second-tier class, that eventuality grew to become extra seemingly; ought to the Brazilian full the F2-F3 double, he’ll be a part of the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri to attain that feat lately.
With Sauber, a staff which is anticipated to stay in the direction of the again in 2025 because it focuses on its preparation for the brand new ’26 components as Audi, Bortoleto has a low-pressure setting to be taught his commerce and a widely known benchmark in Nico Hulkenberg alongside him on the staff.
Who’s Gabriel Bortoleto?
Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident
Photograph by: Formulation Motorsport Ltd
For these much less acquainted with the Paulista, let’s begin along with his oeuvre in motorsport up to now. After racing in karts in each Brazil and Europe, he first stepped into the world of single-seaters with Prema for the 2020 Italian F4 season. He completed fifth that yr in a season gained by Alpine junior Gabriele Mini, however earned a right away step as much as the Formulation Regional European Championship for its first yr after merging with the Formulation Renault Eurocup collection.
His first yr in a extra highly effective automotive was a attempting one, becoming a member of Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing staff – then in a partnership with MP Motorsport – and completed fifteenth total. The spotlight of that yr was his second-place end on the Crimson Bull Ring, the place he crossed the road inside three seconds of champion Gregoire Saucy. Bortoleto remained in contact with Alonso via his A14 administration steady, however switched to the extra aggressive R-ace GP squad to complete sixth total in his sophomore marketing campaign – claiming two wins at Spa and Barcelona.
Trident signed Bortoleto for the 2023 F3 season, however he was a relative outsider when it got here to the pre-season title discourse; Prema was well-stocked with expertise with a three-pronged entrance line of Paul Aron, Zak O’Sullivan and 2022 FRECA champion Dino Beganovic, MP Motorsport had future Williams driver Franco Colapinto on its books, Campos had second-year driver Pepe Marti, whereas Hitech had Mini, Sebastian Montoya and GB3 champion Luke Browning all vying for a title win.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident
Photograph by: Formulation Motorsport Ltd
In a aggressive season, Bortoleto’s consistency gained out. He picked up second on the grid for the opening spherical in Bahrain, from which he took victory within the function race when polesitter Mini was slapped with a five-place penalty for a beginning grid infringement. Subsequent, Bortoleto took pole on the following Melbourne spherical; within the reversed-grid dash he rose to sixth, however held his nerve from the entrance in Albert Park’s function race to finish a lights-to-flag victory and take an early 20-point lead within the championship after 4 races.
Bortoleto didn’t win once more in 2023, however by no means as soon as relinquished the championship lead; the opposite title contenders took factors off one another, whereas the Trident driver scored in each race between his Bahrain function win in March and Hungary’s function race in July. The streak ended along with his retirement from the weird Spa-Francorchamps dash, by which there have been no consecutive laps of green-flag racing in damp situations, as Dino Beganovic locked up at La Supply and knocked Bortoleto’s left-rear tyre to trigger a race-ending puncture. He solely completed eleventh within the function race, getting into the Monza finale 38 factors away from Aron within the title race.
He subsequently wrapped the title up qualifying for the Monza spherical as Aron did not get pole, and a powerful dash race served as his victory lap after ending second behind Colapinto. Aron’s Vitantonio Liuzzi tribute act into Flip 1 collected Jonny Edgar and Marti within the course of, because the Estonian narrowly missed Bortoleto. From eighth, the newly-crowned champion carved his means via the sector within the following 18 laps. The ultimate cross on second-placed Mari Boya was a take a look at of bravery; the Spaniard had him on the grass via Curva Grande, however Bortoleto held the road via the Variante della Roggia to finish the transfer.
Race winner Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident
Photograph by: Formulation Motorsport Ltd
Incomes McLaren assist for his first yr in F2, Bortoleto signed with the Invicta Racing outfit – previously generally known as Virtuosi – to hitch Kush Maini on the squad. Maybe needing extra time to get its head across the new Dallara chassis, Invicta began the yr extra slowly versus the likes of Campos and Rodin. Bahrain was a stable first outing for Bortoleto, yielding factors finishes in each races after the Sao Paulo native took pole for the function race, however a four-race stretch of no factors appeared to place his hopes of a first-year title on ice, beginning with a crash in qualifying at Jeddah that set him out of competition in Saudi Arabia.
Two weeks later, and beginning second within the Melbourne dash, Bortoleto was collateral within the conflict between Crimson Bull juniors Isack Hadjar and Marti, when Hadjar swiped throughout the pair of them off the road. Hydraulic points then yielded one other retirement within the function race Down Below.
Bortoleto stalled the poor luck with a function race pole on the Imola spherical in Could, taking second in Sunday’s race, and repeated that place in Monaco’s dash race every week later. It took till the tip of June for him to file his first F2 win, which emerged via victory within the Crimson Bull Ring function race. He was now simply 32 factors off the championship lead, held by Paul Aron.
However probably the most spectacular facet of his season thus far was victory from twenty second on the grid within the Monza function race. Bortoleto did not get a aggressive lap in throughout qualifying after a spin, and had already achieved the nearly-impossible feat of tying with Dennis Hauger for eighth in the course of the dash to earn each drivers some extent. Bortoleto was as much as 14th by the tip of lap 5, after which cycled into the entrance whereas his fellow soft-tyre starters forward all pitted early doorways. When Hauger was pitched right into a spin at Flip 1 by a slight contact from Ritomo Miyata to carry out a security automotive, Bortoleto might pit cheaply and returned to the circuit in sixth, and instantly threw collectively a collection of quick-fire passes to take the lead – and, finally, a well-known victory.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing
Photograph by: Invicta Virtuosi Racing
How did Bortoleto get the Sauber seat?
When Nico Hulkenberg was signed early doorways for Sauber in 2025, very a lot a call taken with the view of turning into an Audi works driver in 2026, the staff had turned its consideration to wooing Carlos Sainz for the opposite automotive. However Sauber had been gazumped by Williams, as Sainz purchased into James Vowles’ imaginative and prescient for the staff and needed to change into a part of a mission that returned Williams to the entrance of the grid.
This put Sauber right into a protracted decision-making course of for the opposite seat, one which remained dynamic because it primarily waited to see how the market would fall. It knew that, if all else failed, it might retain Valtteri Bottas; Zhou Guanyu out of luck, because the Chinese language driver has paled compared his extra skilled team-mate. Sauber additionally chased Esteban Ocon, however the Frenchman was useless set on becoming a member of Haas when his departure from Alpine was introduced.
With choices among the many established drivers beginning to run out, Bottas had moved forward within the race to retain his seat – though Bortoleto’s gathering momentum in F2 was beginning to mark him out as a gorgeous candidate.
Liam Lawson had been another choice, notably as soon as it regarded like Daniel Ricciardo had labored his means via the early threats to his RB drive, and the Kiwi was understood to be a free agent if Crimson Bull couldn’t grant him a drive in both of its two groups by the tip of 2024. Ricciardo’s place then grew to become extra tenuous and was ousted after Singapore, taking Lawson out of the equation as he was promoted from his reserve function.
The type of newcomer Franco Colapinto threw one other spanner within the works. The Argentine had come into F1 with little expectation positioned upon his shoulders as Logan Sargeant’s substitute, however instantly made an impression in his opening outings with Williams. With no seat out there at 2025 with the Grove staff, Vowles needed to sound out a chance at Sauber and assist Colapinto stay on the grid, however the alleged curiosity from Crimson Bull’s Helmut Marko seems to have sophisticated issues.
Zhou Guanyu, Stake F1 Workforce KICK Sauber C44, Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Workforce KICK Sauber C44
Photograph by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Photos
Both means, Sauber seemingly needed a driver with no strings hooked up; Williams would have presumably stored Colapinto on a bungee twine in case Albon or Sainz had been unavailable or casting their nets elsewhere. McLaren had no such qualms over Bortoleto; though the staff presumably want to maintain tabs on the Brazilian, it knew that it had Norris and Piastri beneath lock and key for the subsequent few years and thus couldn’t make spurious guarantees to maintain him.
Sauber additionally prompt Mick Schumacher was an choice, given Mattia Binotto’s earlier relationship with the ex-Haas driver via the Ferrari Driver Academy. Whether or not this was significantly mooted stays unknown, however Binotto admitted that he was no less than “evaluating” Schumacher.
Bottas appeared assured {that a} deal might be accomplished, however months have since handed and the staff appeared no nearer to doing a cope with the Nordic mullet-owner for 2025. Though the championship positions don’t present this, Bottas has been properly away from Zhou by way of total tempo – however the Swiss staff’s penchant for bizarre methods within the imprecise hope of scoring its first level has masked total race efficiency.
As such, Bottas seems to be out of time. Sauber has seen the performances of Colapinto, Lawson, and Haas driver-elect Oliver Bearman and figured it may be finest to introduce a rookie to the get together. Subsequent to Hulkenberg, Bortoleto has a transparent yardstick to measure as much as; if he can maintain tempo with the veteran German in his first yr, it is going to be symbolic of a driver with a shiny future in F1.
What have folks mentioned about Bortoleto?
Fernando Alonso spoke extremely of his protege, noting that he was not afforded the identical alternatives as a few of his F2 and F3 counterparts. Though largely hidden from view, it’s identified that a number of junior collection drivers undertake testing in previous equipment to realize expertise of F2/F3-level automobiles, which Bortoleto has not been capable of do.
“He is an unimaginable expertise and a really humble individual as properly – I believe that is the most important factor that we have to work on,” Alonso defined in September. “He is a tough employee except for his expertise, and I believe that is why in Formulation 3 and Formulation 2 he had this a lot progress. I believe additionally he is somebody that’s taking issues very significantly as properly, which at that age is rarely a assure.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Workforce, Race winner Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photos
“On budgets and issues like that, he gained the championship as a rookie in Formulation 3, and he is preventing for the championship as a rookie in Formulation 2, however with out the testing of many different rookies. So he is most likely the one ‘rookie rookie’ within the championship. So this was a tremendous achievement thus far. And let’s examine what the long run brings. But it surely’s a matter of time that he will get to F1.”
McLaren staff boss Andrea Stella reckoned that Bortoleto’s success made it “very regular and pure” that different groups would have an interest, and defined that “McLaren is not going to cease the likelihood for Gabriel to drive in Formulation 1”. However maybe the most important endorsement got here from reigning champion Max Verstappen, who acknowledged that “if I used to be Sauber, I might have signed him already” – and used 2025 as a preparation season. This, he added, would afford Bortoleto the possibility to get errors out of his system earlier than Audi is available in for the next yr.
“That is the long run with younger drivers. And ‘26, an enormous rule change, it is all the time good to get used to a staff already for a yr, make your errors right here and there, get built-in properly, and perceive the automotive a bit. You all the time really feel rather more ready and cozy once you then begin in ‘26.”