One year ago, Kick Sauber confirmed the signing of Gabriel Bortoleto. At that point the young Brazilian was a Formula 3 champion, was challenging for the Formula 2 title and had just spent the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend inside the F1 paddock in his role as a McLaren academy driver.<\/p>\n
Fast forward 12 months and much has changed. The 21-year-old bagged that F2 championship \u2013 matching the likes of Oscar Piastri<\/a> by securing back-to-back F3 and F2 titles \u2013 and has already showcased his immense potential as he approaches his first home Grand Prix as an F1 racer.<\/p>\n His Sauber<\/a> team boss Jonathan Wheatley<\/a> has been unequivocal in his praise. \u201cThe real deal\u201d was how he described Bortoleto<\/a>, and Wheatley has worked with his fair share of F1 stars.<\/p>\n There have also been some eye-catching results along the way. A sixth-place finish in Hungary is the pick of the bunch, while there were two P8s in Austria and Monza. After three races outside the top 10 he returned to the points at the Mexico City Grand Prix last time out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a great achievement in my career to be joining Formula 1,\u201d says Bortoleto<\/a> when I ask him if he can believe it has almost been a year since he was confirmed as a Sauber driver.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been my dream since I started racing and obviously, almost a year now, it feels amazing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been a very long season this year, so far. A lot of races, a lot of things to learn from my side and a lot of time spent as well with the team. But, yeah, it feels amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I feel like I’m much more comfortable now going into the weekends’<\/p>\n With the Sao Paulo Grand Prix marking Round 21 of 24, Bortoleto is closing in on the end of his rookie season in motorsport\u2019s top echelon. Undoubtedly there has been much to learn along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, the amount of media commitments we have in Formula 1 \u2013 it\u2019s unreal, it’s so many things!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s definitely one of the things that surprised me the most. You still need to keep your energy level up and you have so many things to attend during the week and so many meetings as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt becomes a much more professional thing, and you need to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n Adapting is pivotal for anyone making their first steps in F1, where the off-track commitments are almost as fast-paced as racing around a circuit. But Bortoleto couldn\u2019t have better mentors around him.<\/p>\n In four-time World Champion Max Verstappen<\/a> \u2013 the pair are close and sim race together \u2013 and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso<\/a> \u2013 Bortoleto is part of his driver management agency \u2013 the Brazilian has two modern day greats to learn from.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they’re off track, they do what they like at home, relax, and I think they recover their energy and they come to a new weekend ready for the next race,\u201d he explains, singling out the pair\u2019s ability to manage their time when so much is required of an F1 driver.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve learnt from Fernando and Max, watching them and how they behave off track and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n He continues: \u201cI think there’s always work to do [for me]. I still feel like I need to do a step in that sense.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I feel like I’m much more comfortable now going into the weekends, much more relaxed with my energy levels arriving on Sunday \u2013 still quite high and able to perform the best way I want \u2013 while, maybe at the beginning of the season, I felt like I was getting a bit more exhausted before we even started [practice] because I was putting too much energy on Thursdays, and on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be so easy just to feel like you’ve got to go all in to prove yourself. But sometimes it’s [about] less and sometimes doing a bit less.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s still putting a lot of effort in things and studying and doing; I still believe I do a lot. But [I do] a bit less than what I was doing at the beginning of the season in some senses \u2013 but with more quality, with more understanding of things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018F1 is my priority\u2019<\/p>\n Bortoleto has already shown himself to be a passionately hard worker, revealing on F1\u2019s Beyond The Grid podcast<\/a> that he often gets straight onto his home simulator after a Grand Prix on Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s when you have everything fresh in your mind,\u201d he told host Tom Clarkson, who was trying to get his head around the driver getting back behind the (virtual) wheel straight after a race.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s what I love about my private life,\u201d he tells me when I ask about that passion for the sim. \u201cIt’s about going home and doing my sim, spending time with my friends, playing and driving on other cars and testing with F1.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is how I recharge my energy. I think that’s what I actually like to spend a lot of time doing, that I feel like the days pass and I’ve done what I loved from the beginning of the day to the end of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like this is a way of me disconnecting a bit from F1 weekends and still doing something I love but being able to recharge.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding that balance is one of the key factors for Bortoleto in helping him perform to the best of his ability \u2013 and there is no denying the importance he puts on his loved ones around him as part of that.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously F1 is my priority, it’s my sport,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt’s what I’m committed to in my life. \u201cIt’s also a priority in my life and I manage to balance both things very well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018They always knew what I was capable of\u2019<\/p>\n Sauber went into 2025 off the back of a challenging 2024, Zhou Guanyu landing the squad\u2019s only points score with the four he collected at the Qatar Grand Prix \u2013 that year\u2019s penultimate race.<\/p>\n As a result, even with the team\u2019s all-new line-up of Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, expectations for 2025 were low, with many assuming the squad would focus on 2026 \u2013 when they become Audi\u2019s<\/a> works team \u2013 as new F1 regulations come into force.<\/p>\n While that focus on 2026 has been present, as it has to be for the entire grid, Sauber did not stand still this season. They may sit ninth in the heavily congested Teams\u2019 Championship, but their haul of 60 points is 56 more than last year already. What\u2019s more, they are only 12 points behind sixth-placed Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n On an individual level, that has allowed Sauber\u2019s drivers to star on the track and showcase their talent on a more regular basis \u2013 Hulkenberg\u2019s British Grand Prix podium a prime example, while Bortoleto\u2019s own points-scoring exploits (in Austria, Hungary and Italy in particular) have only helped to enhance his reputation and the excitement there is around the 21-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s just unreal what we have been able to do since we started the season,\u201d Bortoleto says, reflecting on the team\u2019s improvements. \u201cYou know, [we were on the] back foot and the car was not behaving as we expected. Turning things around and being able to be fighting for points constantly now has been a big thing for us.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m so happy. I’m glad for the team because I see how much hard work they put into things, and how much time is spent, and we deserve some good results.\u201d<\/p>\n Does that improved performance give him a sense of pride, I ask, given he\u2019s able to showcase his talent?<\/p>\n \u201cYes, obviously it’s always nice that people know what you’re capable of,\u201d he responds. \u201cBut I believe, at the same time, I never felt inside the team any pressure or anything to show something. They always knew what I was capable of, and they trusted me.<\/p>\n \u201cBut obviously I put this pressure myself, I wanted to deliver for the team because that’s why I’m here, I need to deliver results. I think it was very good from their side, and from my side, and a combination of things that [meant] we’re able to reach the level we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n Learnings from F2 and F3, and taking inspiration from Schumacher<\/p>\n Perhaps one of the key reasons we are seeing Bortoleto take to F1 like a duck to water is that he\u2019s already battle-hardened, having fought for \u2013 and won \u2013 both the F3 and F2 titles at the first time of asking.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much,\u201d he says, when I ask how much he\u2019s learned from those seasons fighting at the front.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been fighting for titles for two years in a row and that’s the biggest pressure you can feel \u2013 when you know you have only one year to perform in Formula 2 and in Formula 3, and if you don’t perform, maybe you’re not in the grid next year in Formula 1 or in Formula 2.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never know what can happen in your life, so you need to deliver the results as soon as possible and I knew that was the situation. I think that pressure I felt in F2 and F3 prepared me for my season.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a different type of pressure now for Bortoleto. He may not be a championship contender, as he was for the previous two years of his racing career, but his efforts are now geared towards helping Sauber enter their new era.<\/p>\n Patience will be key, as the squad hold lofty ambitions to one day fight for titles, but for that, Bortoleto is taking inspiration from a Netflix documentary on one of the sport\u2019s true greats.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it’s definitely something I’ve been learning,\u201d he says when I ask about adjusting from fighting at the very front to what he is doing now.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously there’s still the feeling of not fighting for wins; it’s a topic for me that I keep fighting because I truly believe I have the potential to do that. I just need maybe the opportunity to achieve that. Hopefully we will do soon.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI think about it every single second of my day. I’m doing things related to it, but my private life is also very important for me. Spending time with family, my girlfriend, my friends, doing things I love.<\/p>\n