{"id":50237,"date":"2025-08-07T11:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50237\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T11:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:14:12","slug":"fernando-alonso-calls-out-bias-as-he-names-rookie-of-this-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50237\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Alonso calls out bias as he names rookie &#8216;of this generation&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fernando Alonso believes were it not for bias, Gabriel Bortoleto would not only be F1 2025\u2019s best rookie, but the best \u201cof this generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alas, he reckons the Sauber driver\u2019s sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix did not receive the recognition it deserved.<\/p>\n<p>Fernando Alonso names his \u2018rookie of this generation\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Bortoleto arrived on the F1 grid for the F1 2025 season the minimal F1 preparation.<\/p>\n<p>Although he won the Formula 2 title as a McLaren-backed driver, his TPC time while still under the McLaren umbrella was limited, while Kimi Antonelli covered over 9,000km in an old Mercedes F1 car.<\/p>\n<p>It meant that when Sauber announced Bortoleto in early November, the Brazilian didn\u2019t even have a single FP1 practice session to his name.<\/p>\n<p>Arriving on the grid as arguably one of the least prepared rookies for F1, he recorded a run of 10 races outside of the points before breaking his duck at the Austrian Grand Prix with a 10th place result.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Bortoleto has marched on to three top ten results in four races, culminating in a career-best sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p>But while Sauber and his manager Alonso celebrated a day in which Bortoleto not only beat reigning World Champion Max Verstappen and all the drivers from the Red Bull and Racing Bulls stables, including Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton, his achievements were largely overshadowed by Verstappen and Hamilton\u2019s misery. Even by Kimi Antonelli\u2019s return to the points in 10th for Mercedes.<\/p>\n<p>F1 2025: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/results\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The results of the F1 2025 championship <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/standings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The updated Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Alonso reckons were it not for bias, his driver would\u2019ve been headline news.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe commits few errors, always putting pressure,\u201d said Alonso, speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com. \u201cHe\u2019s the best rookie of this generation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he was English, or something, and finished sixth in a Sauber, he\u2019d be in all the news.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat he does is exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bortoleto has achieved three points finishes in the past four grands prix, boosting Stake\u2019s chances of catching Williams for fifth in the constructors\u2019 standings.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old reckons his rookie campaign on the grid has been going according to plan, even in the 10 races he didn\u2019t score. After all, it\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s my rookie season,\u201d he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, \u201cit\u2019s normal that you progress. At least for me, I\u2019ve always been like this.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you check my junior series, I\u2019ve been a guy who has always had these types of steps in my career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s also because I like to work, I like to study, I like to understand what I\u2019ve been doing wrong and how to do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bortoleto is, on F1 2025 stats, third on the rookies list behind Kimi Antonelli on 64 points and Isack Hadjar on 22.<\/p>\n<p>Read next:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/franco-colapinto-alpine-f1-2025-seat-safe-as-confidence-quest-continues\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aron? Bottas? Colapinto\u2019s F1 future clarified with Alpine mission set<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fernando Alonso believes were it not for bias, Gabriel Bortoleto would not only be F1 2025\u2019s best rookie,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,845,813,816,818,44,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-50237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-fernando-alonso","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}