Gabriel Bortoleto says that a turnaround in his fortunes in F2 drove Audi’s interest in signing him for a Formula 1 seat.
Having won the 2023 F3 title at his first attempt Bortoleto had a difficult start to his rookie F2 season.
However after second places in the Imola feature and Monaco sprint races in May the McLaren junior began to gather momentum, winning the feature race in Austria in July
That coincided with Mattia Binotto joining the Sauber/Audi team with finding a second driver for 2025 and beyond as one of his initial tasks.
After potential candidate Carlos Sainz committed to Williams to late August Bortoleto’s surge into the lead of the F2 series marked him as an obvious candidate, especially as it was clear that there would be no opening at McLaren for him in the coming years.
“Obviously this season didn’t start so well,” said the Brazilian. “So at the beginning we didn’t have any, let’s say, talks or anything about next year. We even thought at some time if we would repeat F2, what we were going to do, between my managers.
“But at some point, obviously this season had a turnover. I started winning races and podiums every round. So yeah, obviously this Audi thing started to happen. I don’t remember exactly when it did, but then we started talking. Mattia showed a lot of interest on my side.
“It’s a very nice project. And then we decided to go for it. Mattia was not sure about an experienced driver for next year, or a young driver, but the plan was always to be together if it was for ’25 or ’26, but I think it was very recent decision from Mattia about ’25.”
Bortoleto insisted he was “not stressed” despite having to wait a while for confirmation that he had landed the job.
“Obviously as a young driver you always want to be as soon as possible in F1,” he said. “But I fully trusted with my team that we would get a good opportunity.
“And when we spoke to Mattia for the first time, we had this conversation. And we were planning what to do for the future, not only for next year.
“I was quite easy with it. I was not too stressed, and it’s not going to change anything in my life right now, because I already knew that things should happen in the future.
“So I’m just going to keep driving the same and doing my job in F2 and targeting for this championship that we are leading right now.
“But obviously it’s very nice to be announced and stop all these speculations here and there, and to just focus in F2.”
As the first Brazilian with a fulltime F1 drive for eight years Bortoleto says he has a lot of support from fans.
“It’s very nice to be in the grid after so many years,” he said. “I think the last driver to race a full season was Felipe Massa. Actually the first ever team he raced for was Sauber, so it’s nice to begin my history in the same team he did.
“And, yeah, it’s special. I think Brazil always supported me, especially this season in F2, they created, obviously, as a lot of expectations, because of my good results in F3 and after we started doing quite well in F2, the expectations also to jump to F1 were high. And I don’t think this somehow dropped my performance or anything.
“I think it’s just got better and better, because it’s a type of thing that gives you energy, you create energy from them. I think it’s going to be very positive to have the Brazilian fans helping us, supporting us, and just wanting me to perform well in F1 and have a good time there.”
He is confident that the Swiss team can move on from what has been a difficult 2024 season.
“Regarding next year’s car, obviously, I’m still meeting everyone here in Sauber,” he said. “But I think I’m very positive about it. I’ve seen there’s new people coming in, a lot of expectations with obviously my announcement as well here.
“I think we are basically not in a good position right now, but I’m sure we’re going to make steps ahead, and we’re going to be there.”
