Alonso adament that "incredible talent" Bortoleto's "time in F1 will come"
F1 News
Fernando Alonso says that Formula 2 talent Gabriel Bortoleto has to be 'given time' in his journey to Formula 1. The two-time world champion has taken the Brazilian under his wing as manager, coaching and helping him to improve and earn a seat in Formula 1. The young Brazilian is impressing in F2 this season, and he has attracted a lot of interest from Sauber/Audi.
Bortoleto leads the Formula 2 championship with 169.5 points, taking the lead in the championship after the last race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. How, the Brazilian is defending a 4.5-point lead over Isack Hadjar, the French Red Bull junior, with just two more race weekends left in the season. The 19-year-old driver is garnering a lot of praise, not just for his fantastic results, but also because of his driving style, putting him on the radar of F1 teams.
However, Alonso does not want Bortoleto to be rushed into the premier class of motorsport. The Spaniard knows that the Brazilian will get a seat in F1, but he does not know whether driving in the 2025 season would be the best decision for the 19-year-old. However, the current Aston Martin driver also knows that giving advice to Bortoleto is quite tricky.
"It is not easy to give advice," started Alonso. "Everyone is a bit different. But yes, he is an incredible talent. As I said in Baku, he's the only rookie we have in F3 and F2 who is leading the championship. All the others, they do 10-12 days of F1 testing, 20 days of F2 testing, and these kinds of things, Gabriel is just a pure rookie, so his talent is incredible."
Bortoleto is in his first season in Formula 2, and it looks extremely likely that he will be the next Brazilian driver in F1 with a full-time contract, with the last Brazilian driver on the grid being Felipe Massa.
"Brazil has a lot of history in Formula 1," Alonso continued, "That also creates pressure, but we have to give Gabriel his time. His time in Formula 1 will arrive. We don't need to take any shortcut that can compromise the development of his talent, so he needs to get to F1 at the right time and when he's totally prepared, and in the right team and the right environment."
What will the future bring for Bortoleto?
Finding the right environment for the 19-year-old is, therefore, the biggest challenge in making the right decision, Alonso argues. "To combine the pressure and the motivation to get to F1 with the common sense of when is the best time." But even though Alonso says Bortoleto needs to take his time getting into F1, the 43-year-old says that there is still a good chance that Bortoleto could be given a seat at Sauber/Audi for 2025. "No, no, no, I think the team has to make some decisions, and for sure Gabriel is very appealing to everybody at the moment."
At Sauber/Audi, however, they are reportedly already agreed that Valtteri Bottas will still be in the car next year, alongside Nico Hulkenberg. According to rumours, however, the team have said to be interested in letting Bortoleto join as a third driver for a season, leading to him earning a seat for the 2026 season. However, Bortoleto is a McLaren junior driver, and it remains to be seen whether the British team would want to cooperate with that plan.
This article was created in collaboration with Corwin Kunst