Behind the scenes of Bortoleto's arrival at Sauber: "It was either 2025 or 2026"

Gabriel Bortoleto can take a deep breath, he will indeed be on the grid Formula 1 in 2025. A serious candidate for the last seat at stake at Sauber, the Brazilian ended up winning the favor of the new director Mattia Binotto, leaving Guanyu-Zhou et Valtteri Bottas on the tile.

However, the road to reach this starting position was very long given his season. Leader of F2 At the moment, the Auriverde had started his campaign very badly with only 12 points from the first 3 rounds and almost 50 points behind Zane Maloney, then leading the championship. To the point of not imagining a future in F1, at least in the short term.

« We hadn't had any discussions or anything about next year. (at this point in the season), Explain Gabriel Bortoleto. We even thought about repeating the year. But at one point, there was a turning point.. » And suddenly, the results came one after the other and the interested party erased all his delay on the head to take the lead during the last round disputed in Baku in September.

Not considered until a few months ago, the São Paulo native has now become a serious contender for a promotion to F1, helped by the very good performances of his comrades in the big leagues like Franco Colapinto or Oliver Bearman, capable of quickly achieving good results. I started winning races and getting on podiums, he recalls. Then this Audi story came up. I don't remember exactly but we started talking.

[Mattia] wasn't sure whether he wanted an experienced rider or a youngster for next season, but the plan was always to work together. [It was just a matter of knowing] if it was for 2025 or 2026. I didn't have any problem. I wasn't too stressed, and it won't change anything in my current life, because I already knew that things had to happen in the future »

With his career assured, Gabriel Bortoleto must now complete his F2 campaign at the end of which he can win the title as a rookie, a year after having achieved a similar feat in F3. The confirmation of his tenure thus allows him to " to concentrate » fully in Formula 2 while he only has a 4,5 point lead over his runner-up Isack Hadjar.

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