In the first of a new mini-series where Motorsport.com is delving into the burgeoning Formula 1 careers of the six 2025 rookies, today we’re introducing new Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto.
The 20-year-old hails from Sao Paulo and has already built an impressive junior motorsport career.
Like Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri before him, Bortoleto arrives at the top tier having won back-to-back Formula 3 (known as GP3 when Leclerc and Russell won this title) and Formula 2 championships at the first attempt.
Before then, he produced decent returns in Italian Formula 4 and the Formula Regional European championship after moving to Italy aged 13 with his coach Francesco di Mauro.
Bortoleto’s family have considerable wealth, with his father Lincoln Oliveira getting rich in Brazil’s telecommunications industry in the 1990s. They are understood to have had close links with Brazil’s most recent debuting F1 driver, Felipe Nasr, on his way up the single-seater ranks before making his own F1 bow with Sauber back in 2015.
But that’s far from Bortoleto’s only existing tie to the top of the single seater ladder, as he has been managed by Fernando Alonso’s A14 company since 2023.
A14 helped to secure his berth with the Trident team with which Bortoleto went on to win that year’s F3 title – taking two wins and one pole in the process.
He produced similar numbers in winning the 2024 F2 title with the Invicta squad (two wins, two poles), but what set him apart in both successful campaigns was his ability to bring home consistent points when his title rivals floundered through various stages.
By 2024, Bortoleto had joined the books at McLaren, which agreed to release him from his junior driver status to go to Sauber when the soon-to-be Audi squad came calling as 2024 concluded. McLaren will have no F1 seat openings until the end of 2026 at the earliest and Bortoleto had nowhere further to progress up the ladder.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella spoke warmly of Bortoleto’s achievements last year, calling him “humble” and “at no point arrogant” – even when the 2024 F2 season started off with a struggle to adapt to the championship’s new spec car.
Alonso took a typically more bombastic approach compared to his former race engineer.
“I know there are a lot of talks about the young generation – a lot of rookies also next year, very talented all of them – but the best is Gabriel,” the Aston Martin driver said at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. “He showed it on track with the same cars.”
When asked by Motorsport.com how he would choose to introduce himself to F1 fans at the recent F175 Live event in London, Bortoleto replied: “I don't know. I try to be myself as much as I can. I don't try to be different.
“Let's say, when I'm on track or when I'm around cameras or whatever, I try to be who I am. Who I always was. You can say I try to be funny… (“But you are very funny,” interjected new Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg) Thank you. I don't know. I just try to be like this.
“And in the car, I believe I try to work very hard to achieve every dream I had. It was the same in Formula 3 and Formula 2. I work very hard to achieve the championships.
“A lot of days. Doing simulator work with the team. Spending time with engineers. So, I don't think the approach will be different in Formula 1. That's a little bit how I describe myself. But we will see this season. You will see and I don't need to tell you because it's even difficult for myself to speak about me.”
Hulkenberg felt he and Bortoleto bonded well during their initial sponsor commitments together in the off-season, ahead of what is expected to be a tricky campaign for the Sauber squad.
Nevertheless, Hulkenberg said Bortoleto had been “fast as hell” in Bahrain testing last month, where he also highlighted his team-mate’s abilities as a fast learner.
Elsewhere in the paddock at that event, Bortoleto’s willingness to criticise the changes to Testing of Previous Cars rules for 2025, which effectively make him one of the most unprepared F1 rookies ever in terms of mileage in older machinery combined with restricted pre-season test running, went down well in terms of the youngster showing a mature character.
Bortoleto now enters F1 with the weight of a motorsport-mad nation behind him. He’s well aware of the reaction granted to Argentina’s Franco Colapinto unexpected and memorable F1 run last year, which in turn raises expectations on what he might achieve in 2025.
Sauber’s likely struggles to escape Q1 on pace means he can make the expected rookie errors away from the strongest glare of the F1 media spotlight, but strong results against a driver as excellent as Hulkenberg could be the making of a long career at the top level.
Bortoleto arrives as a wealthy young racing driver looking to inspire Brazil through his charming character and racing speed. As an Ayrton Senna-like story goes, it’s already off to a solid start…
