- Gabriel Bortoleto acknowledges that fellow Gen-Z rivals Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar have already reached Formula 1 podiums, but insists patience is the right response as he builds Audi’s long-term F1 project from within.
- The 2023 F3 and 2024 F2 champion draws mentorship from both Audi team principal Mattia Binotto and four-time world champion Max Verstappen, regularly consulting both about team development and personal growth.
- Bortoleto’s ultimate five-year goal is unambiguous: winning Formula 1 world championships with Audi, a team he believes is on a clear upward trajectory despite currently sitting eighth in the constructors’ standings.
Bortoleto Accepts the Wait While Antonelli and Hadjar Claim Early F1 Glory
Gabriel Bortoleto has watched two drivers from his own generation step onto the Formula 1 podium, and he has done so from a very different vantage point. Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar — rivals Bortoleto raced against and defeated throughout the junior categories — have already tasted top-three finishes in their debut F1 seasons. Bortoleto, by contrast, is operating at the other end of the competitive spectrum, helping Audi construct the foundational infrastructure of a team that does not yet have the machinery to fight at the front.
The 22-year-old Brazilian, currently 15th in the drivers’ standings, is candid about the emotional complexity of that reality. “They’re the two drivers from my generation who are getting podiums,” Bortoleto told Motorsport.com. “I’ve raced against them all my life. The truth is that I did well against them in the junior categories, and I know what I’m capable of. But I have to be patient. Everyone has their own path. Let’s see where we all end up in 20 years.”
Transitioning from a junior career built on wins and championship titles to a Formula 1 environment where points are the primary target has required a fundamental shift in how Bortoleto measures success. “I’m very happy to be in Formula 1,” he said. “It’s the first step towards a dream I’ve always had. At the same time, to be honest, it’s also difficult when you come from the junior categories, where you’ve been winning, and then arrive in Formula 1 knowing you can’t fight at the front. It’s been almost two years now. Today, the goal is to score points, and that’s not easy.”
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Belief in the Audi Project Drives Bortoleto’s Long-Term Commitment
What prevents frustration from becoming disillusionment, Bortoleto explains, is a genuine belief in Audi’s F1 trajectory. He is not using his current seat as a showcase for a move to an established frontrunner. He wants to be at Audi when Audi itself becomes a winner. “What motivates me and keeps me going is the project I’m part of,” said the 2023 F3 and 2024 F2 champion. “I’m not in a team whose ambition is to stay where we are today. I’m in a team that’s improving every year and has a clear long-term plan. I hope that one day I’ll look back and see that everything we’ve been through helped us reach the top.”
Bortoleto is aware that the team regards him as central to that future, but he rejects the idea that expectation becomes a burden. “Pride, yes. Pressure, no,” he said. “There will be difficult moments, there will be times when you’re not winning, and I have to keep working on my mindset, on myself, and developing as a driver. Because the day Audi gives me the opportunity to win, with a winning car and a winning engine — and it will happen, I don’t think it will take that long — I’ll have to be ready to show what I can do.”
He is equally clear-eyed about the competitive standings right now, acknowledging Antonelli and Hadjar’s current advantage while keeping perspective. “Right now, Hadjar and Kimi are definitely closer to the ultimate goal, which is winning a world championship. But everything could change in a year. You never know. I just have to keep doing my best,” said Bortoleto.
‘Mattia Binotto Is Much More Than a Boss’
One of Bortoleto’s most important sources of guidance is Mattia Binotto, the Audi F1 team principal who spent years at Ferrari experiencing both its most triumphant periods and its most difficult chapters before beginning the task of building Audi into a competitive force. For Bortoleto, that dual perspective — knowing what it feels like to be inside a championship-winning team and knowing what it takes to build one — makes Binotto uniquely qualified to advise him. “I talk to Mattia a lot,” Bortoleto said. “I often ask him for help with this situation because I know he has a lot of experience and understands what I’m going through now. He’s already been part of a winning team, and now he’s in a team that wants to win. He helps me a lot.”
Their relationship has evolved into something Bortoleto describes as going well beyond a conventional professional dynamic. “He’s a mentor, a friend, a boss, but he’s also very different from what I imagined,” claimed Bortoleto. “Because normally, when you have a boss, the relationship is a bit formal. But he’s different. I don’t just see him as a boss, but also as someone I can go to for advice about my personal life. That’s a really nice aspect of our relationship.”
Max Verstappen Shares Red Bull’s Journey — Sometimes During a Gaming Session
Alongside Binotto, Bortoleto has another prominent sounding board in Max Verstappen. The two are friends who share a passion for sim racing, and those gaming sessions regularly turn into something more substantive — with Bortoleto pressing the four-time world champion for insight into how Red Bull Racing evolved from a developing team into an unstoppable championship operation. “I talk to Max often,” revealed Bortoleto. “Obviously, the details stay between us, but we often talk about how I’m feeling, how I’m developing, what I want from Audi and how we’re progressing as a team. I ask him questions about what he experienced at Red Bull before winning the world championship: what things were like, how the team worked.”
The setting for those conversations is not always a formal debrief. “These are things that sometimes come into my head while we’re playing, so I ask him,” said Bortoleto. Together, Binotto and Verstappen offer complementary perspectives — the team builder and the driver who waited — that Bortoleto is actively drawing on as he navigates his own development arc.
The Boy Who Never Wanted a Plan B
Bortoleto’s patience in the present stands in sharp contrast to the fierce single-mindedness that defined his junior career. When asked whether he had ever considered an alternative path in case Formula 1 did not materialise, his answer was immediate. “Never,” he replied. “A lot of people told me it was wrong to think that way, and maybe it was, because there are many great categories in motorsport where you can become a professional and race at a high level. But I wanted to reach Formula 1 because that was what I’d dreamed of since I was a child.”
People around him regularly challenged that all-or-nothing approach, pointing to the limited number of F1 seats and the long list of talented drivers who had never secured one. “They would tell me, ‘Even if you win Formula 3, and even if you’re winning Formula 2, what are you going to do if it doesn’t happen,'” he recalled. “And I’d reply, ‘I can’t get that into my head. Don’t even tell me that.’ I’d get angry and walk away.”
That determination produced results. Bortoleto won the F3 championship in his debut season before graduating to F2, where one of the defining moments of his title campaign came at Monza in 2024. Having crashed into the gravel at the first Lesmo during qualifying, he faced the prospect of starting at the back of the grid while title rival Hadjar lined up third. “I said to myself, ‘I’m starting last, he’s starting third. Even if I drive the race of my life, where can I finish? We all have the same cars, it’s not as if one is much better than another. Even the engineers were saying it wouldn’t be easy to overtake,'” he recalled. Bortoleto went on to win the race. “With everything that happened during the race, winning was an incredible feeling for me. Something really special.”
The Phone Call That Made 20 Years of Sacrifice Worthwhile
When the confirmation of his Audi Formula 1 seat finally arrived, Bortoleto was at his home in Milan with his girlfriend. His manager called to tell him the date of the announcement, and the exchange that followed captured exactly how unexpected the timeline was. “I said to him, ‘What announcement? For 2026?’ And he said, ‘No, for 2025!’ I replied, ‘What are you talking about, 2025?’ And he said, ‘You’ll be racing as a full-time driver in 2025.'”
Bortoleto’s first instinct was to call his family in Brazil. “I made a video call with my dad, my mum and my brother, and I said, ‘I have something to tell you. Stop everything!’ I remember my mum was crying, my brother was incredibly excited and my father didn’t know what to say,” he recalled. For Bortoleto, the moment went far beyond a contract signing — it was a reckoning with everything his family had sacrificed over two decades. “It’s impossible to explain what it means. But it’s the result of 20 years of work. I know how many days my father wasn’t at home, how many races he couldn’t come to watch when I was little because he had to work.”
The Bortoleto family had no background in motorsport before Gabriel’s career began. His father came from the internet and telecommunications industry before becoming involved in Brazilian motor racing, where he now runs the Stock Car series. The sacrifices were real and sustained. “They made so many sacrifices, including living away from me so they could keep working. And that day, when we had that video call, I think what went through my mind was that it was a huge achievement for me, but an even bigger one for my mum and dad. All those sacrifices had been worth it.”
On Money, Mindset, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Lap
That grounded family background appears to have shaped Bortoleto’s attitude towards the financial rewards of Formula 1 in a way that sets him apart from the caricature of the commercially motivated racing driver. “I don’t care how much other drivers earn,” he stated. “What matters to me is having a winning car and a good project ahead of me. The money comes as a consequence. If you’re a great champion, you’ll never be short of money. If you’re winning races, the last thing you should be worrying about is how much money you’re making.” He added: “If anything, the question is where to spend it or who to help. If you make all that money and don’t help the people around you, you don’t deserve it.”
Off the track, Bortoleto acknowledges that his mind rarely disengages from racing. Sim racing with friends like Verstappen provides a form of release — competitive but without the weight of professional consequence. “My mind is always on racing. I need something that helps me switch off from what I do for the rest of the day. Sometimes it’s still motorsport, but in a different way. I’m laughing, I’m having fun, it’s not work. I don’t have to chase perfection.” On the subject of perfection in a racing car, his thinking is precise. “The perfect lap? No, I don’t think it exists, because perfection would mean being able to say, ‘There was nothing more I could have done.’ But you can have a lap that’s very close to perfection. Perfection isn’t human. For me, perfection is what you get in computer simulations.”
Asked where he hopes to be in five years, Bortoleto’s answer is entirely in keeping with the long-term conviction that has shaped his entire career: “Hopefully winning world championships, obviously with Audi.”
Why This Matters
Bortoleto’s situation is emblematic of a broader dynamic playing out across the Formula 1 grid in 2025. A generation of exceptionally talented young drivers — Bortoleto, Antonelli, and Hadjar among them — has arrived in F1 simultaneously, but the competitive equipment available to each varies enormously. Antonelli joined Mercedes and Hadjar joined Racing Bulls, teams with significantly more developed F1 infrastructure. Bortoleto chose — or was chosen by — Audi, a manufacturer making its full F1 debut in a project that will not mature until its power unit programme is complete.
The Audi F1 programme, currently eighth in the constructors’ standings, represents one of the most significant long-term bets in the sport. For Bortoleto, the key question is not whether the team will eventually be competitive, but whether he can maintain his development and readiness during the years before that competitiveness arrives. His relationships with Mattia Binotto — who has navigated Ferrari’s peaks and troughs — and Max Verstappen — who waited years at Red Bull before the championship machinery came together — suggest he is drawing on the most relevant experience available to him.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Gabriel Bortoleto at Audi rather than a more competitive team?
Bortoleto signed with the Audi F1 project — formerly known as Sauber — ahead of the 2025 season. He has made clear that this was a deliberate commitment to a long-term project rather than a temporary arrangement, and that he intends to be part of the team when it eventually competes at the front, rather than using the seat as a stepping stone to a top team.
What is Gabriel Bortoleto’s current standing in the 2025 Formula 1 season?
Bortoleto is currently 15th in the drivers’ championship standings. Audi sits eighth in the constructors’ championship. His stated goal for the current season is to score points consistently, which he acknowledges is not straightforward given the team’s position in the competitive order.
How did Gabriel Bortoleto win the 2024 F2 championship?
Bortoleto secured the 2024 F2 title after a closely contested campaign that included a pivotal race win at Monza, where he started from the back of the grid following a qualifying crash and still won the race — a result that proved decisive in his championship battle against Isack Hadjar. He had also won the F3 championship the previous year as a rookie, making him one of the most decorated recent graduates to enter Formula 1.
