The Brazilian driver will make his Formula 1 debut with the Swiss team on a multi-year contract, in anticipation of Audi’s debut in 2026.
The saga of this autumn has just come to an end! Gabriel Bortoleto will be the second driver for the Stake Sauber team in 2025, alongside Nico Hulkenberg, forming a well-balanced pair with the challenging task of revitalizing the Swiss team after a disappointing 2024 season, still stuck at 0 points with three races left to go.
Sauber will thus have an entirely new driver lineup, as this morning the departures of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou—both with the team since 2022—were officially announced. While the Chinese driver’s chances of staying in Formula 1 as a main driver were already slim, the Finnish driver was in contention until the very end with Bortoleto for the final available grid spot, aside from the Red Bull-Racing Bulls situation.
Currently, Gabriel Bortoleto is the leader of the Formula 2 Championship, with a 4.5-point lead over Red Bull Junior Team driver Isack Hadjar and a 34.5-point advantage over Zane Maloney, with only two rounds remaining. In 2023, Bortoleto also won the Formula 3 title in his debut season with the Italian team Trident, dominating the championship from the very first race in Bahrain and impressing everyone with his extraordinary consistency.
The turning point came in the paddock at Interlagos: in fact, the main obstacle to Gabriel Bortoleto’s agreement with Sauber is the contract that the Brazilian driver signed with McLaren during 2023. In fact, the team of Woking has welcomed him into his Junior Programme, but he will hardly be able to guarantee a seat before 2027, as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have renewed their contracts until the end of the season 2026.
As we said, however, in Interlagos there was an opening to the loan, which was confirmed by the words of the team principal of the Mclaren Andrea Stella: “Having the opportunity to talk about Gabriel, I take this opportunity to once again highlight the great work he is doing in the junior categories, winning in F3 and driving in F2 already in his first season”.
“This is to lead into the fact that I think it’s very, very normal and natural that F1 teams are interested in having Gabriel as a driver. In terms of McLaren, we will not stop the possibility for Gabriel to drive F1.”
Gabriel Bortoleto in Sauber in 2025: here are the statements!
Following the announcement, Mattia Binotto said: “Gabriel has already demonstrated in the junior categories that he has what it takes to be a winning driver. We are very pleased that he will become a team member of Sauber and Audi. Together with Gabriel, we are on a journey towards success, and we will evolve into a unified force to shape a new era for Audi in motorsport. Nico and Gabriel represent the ideal combination of experience and youth, positioning us strongly for the future.”
Bortoleto was very excited to start his new adventure in Formula 1: “This is one of the most exciting projects in motorsport, if not in all of sports. Joining a team that combines the rich motorsport history of Sauber and Audi is a true honour. Beyond simply being a member, I aim to grow with this ambitious project and reach the pinnacle of motorsport.”
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity given to me by the team and for the chance to work alongside an experienced driver like Nico. Both programs have a proven track record of nurturing young talent, and I am confident that together, we will write our own success story.” , concluded the young Brazilian driver, who will officially bring Brazil back to the Formula 1 grid after the 2 appearances in 2020 of Pietro Fittipaldi with Haas.
PHOTO: F1, Gabriel Bortoleto.