Gabriel Bortoleto has said he and Max Verstappen could be good teammates, if the Dutch driver ever decides to move to Audi\u2026<\/p>\n
The Brazilian rookie has explained how he and four-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen have cultivated a friendship through a mutual love of Call of Duty and sim racing, and extended a warm welcome to joining him at Audi, if the four-time F1 World Champion ever fancied a different challenge.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Bortoleto: Max Verstappen gives me corner tips in sim racing!<\/p>\n
With four points finishes from the last six races, Bortoleto has become one of the stars of the F1 2025 season as he has found his feet in the series as a rookie driver.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian driver has established a close friendship with four-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, and Bortoleto has opened up on how the pair enjoy some downtime together by way of playing computer games such as Call of Duty, or racing against each other on their home simulators.<\/p>\n
Bortoleto has even benefited from Verstappen passing on some words of wisdom about how to tackle some corners, and the Sauber<\/a> driver has revealed how the Dutchman generously helps him out, even without asking.<\/p>\n The friendship stems back to 2023, when Bortoleto was in Formula 3, and it has since developed into an easy friendship, despite the pair now being grid rivals in F1.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it was funny. We played some Call of Duty. That\u2019s how we spend the days, right?\u201d Bortoleto said at the Italian Grand Prix, when asked about a recent online stream in which he played some computer games with Verstappen.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was good to just have fun and laugh a little bit,\u201d he said, before joking about Verstappen\u2019s command of the Portuguese language.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should ask him the words he knows! It\u2019s very bad ones, so I cannot say it here. He loves to say them when it\u2019s not live!\u201d<\/p>\n Now, most of the way through his first season in Formula 1, Bortoleto said that he has learned quite a bit from Verstappen \u2013 whether that\u2019s in tangible ways such as tips and tricks in sim racing, or just a chat in the paddock at an F1 Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cWe drive a lot together in the sim and we practice a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say this is always helpful, tracks he already knows, tips he gives about corners, and things that I should be looking at. It\u2019s always very good, the tips he gives to me.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, [he\u2019s] a four-time world champion, so he achieved a lot in his career, and I\u2019m super glad to have someone like him being very helpful.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause sometimes I don\u2019t even ask, it\u2019s coming from him. And obviously, you need to be curious, but it\u2019s very nice to have someone like this. And he has zero interest at the end of the day. He\u2019s not working with me in any sense and helping me a lot, so I\u2019m grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether this means he feels the four-time F1 World Champion is mentoring him by way of \u201ctaking him under his wing\u201d, Bortoleto said,\u00a0\u201cHe started helping me when I was in Formula 3, and we became good friends, and I believe he likes me, probably!<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s why. He wants to see me doing well in Formula 1. I always made it very clear that he\u2019s, for me, the top guy in Formula 1. And I really look up to what he did and what he\u2019s doing in Formula 1.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think probably he likes it. I don\u2019t know, you should probably ask him why he takes me under\u2026 I don\u2019t know the answer. Again, probably because he likes me and I try, I show him that I\u2019m really into simulators and stuff that he likes and that I love as well, and we do it together.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Sauber and Audi<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Nico Hulkenberg recounts \u2018surreal survival fight\u2019 to end legendary F1 podium drough<\/a>t<\/p>\n