20-year-old Paulistano is announced by Sauber-Audi and Brazil will once again have a regular driver in motorsport’s premier category next season
Confirmed on the grid Formula 1 in 2025, Gabriele Bortoleto said on Wednesday that he takes inspiration from his idol Ayrton Senna to show “grit and dedication” on the category’s tracks from next season onwards. The 20-year-old driver has signed a “multi-year” contract with the team Sauber-Audiending a seven-year drought without a Brazilian starting in F1.
Bortoleto arrives in the top category of world motorsport on the strength of the Formula 3 title, won last year, and the leadership of F2, in which he currently competes and is the favorite for the trophy. Cautiously, the Brazilian said he expects more difficulties in F1.
“It’s a much more complicated category than F2 and F3, we have no way of knowing how we will finish the championship. There are many updates throughout the season. But I want to demonstrate determination, dedication, the desire to win, the desire to make it, it’s typical of the Brazilian,” the driver said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Bortoleto said he was aware of the limitations faced by Sauber, who are the worst team in this year’s Constructors’ Championship. In 10th and last place in the table, the Swiss team is the only one not to have scored so far. “It won’t be easy. I won’t get to F1 by winning races or winning a championship. We have no way of knowing if that will happen. But I will show determination on the track, I won’t be soft,” he said.
“You prove your worth by overtaking beautifully, you have a good training, you do interesting things in the rain, you really show that you are a different person. I think this is what defines Brazilians and this is how I define myself. I am a I try to inspire myself to Ayrton Senna and that’s something I really want to become more and more of,” he added.
Enthusiastic about his place in F1, Bortoleto admitted that “the money hasn’t dropped yet”. “I think it’s almost impossible for me to understand now the extent of this responsibility of representing Brazil in F1. It’s something very recent for me, it will be realized in a few days.”
Negotiation
The Brazilian driver revealed that negotiations with Sauber-Audi began to be concluded about a month ago. “I walked into Mattia Binotto’s (Sauber boss) office and he asked me about 3,000 questions in less than a minute to see if I had the answers to them all,” Bortoleto said, laughing, alongside his new boss. “I remember it very well, it was really nice. That bond was a special moment. He showed me the Audi project and what he wanted for the team and for me. It was clear that the two wanted to be together.”
The Brazilian denied rumors that he would be loaned from McLaren to Sauber for a year and would return to the English team in 2026. Bortoleto is currently part of the McLaren academy. “There weren’t as many implications regarding McLaren, as the media said, talking about negotiation and release. It wasn’t like that. It was something much more peaceful and calm. But that’s part of it, it was speculation,” he commented. “McLaren didn’t have a place in F1 for 2025 and I really liked Audi’s plan.”
Patience
Bortoleto said he is aware of the expectations it will generate among Brazilian F1 fans. But he asked for patience. “I think the fans have an idea of the situation we are going through now. And I hope everyone supports us and I ask for patience, just as I will have patience in my growth. For those who know my career, you know that I have not had easy years at I’m starting out, both in karting and in formulas, but I had the patience to wait so that when I had the car, I could give results.”
The Brazilian revealed that Sauber has undergone several changes, aiming for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, when F1 will undergo major innovations in the engines of its cars. “We know that Sauber is in a not very easy situation right now. But I see all the changes they are making now, the people they are bringing into the team. There are a lot of positive things happening here and we know it’s not a project unique for everyone, it is a project that will take time. We have the ambition to win, but it will not be quick. The point is to progress step by step, we will grow together.
As for his future, Bortoleto stated that he will continue to be part of the McLaren team until the end of the F1 season, which will include three more stages in 2024. He will only start working directly at Sauber at the end of the championship. But he hasn’t defined what his routine will look like. There is also the possibility of changing country: he currently lives in Italy.
“I don’t know yet if I will change country, I will make this decision together with the team. I have to see the planning of the simulator days, the workshop days in which I have to be present. I” I am a driver who likes to be very involved with the teams, I would like spend a lot of time here because, in F1, the teams are much bigger than in F2 and F3, I intend to spend more time here at Sauber, but we’ll see.
Source: Terra
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