Bortoleto "admires" the racing stlye of Verstappen: "Always been amazed"

Gabriel Bortoleto has said that he has "always been amazed" by Max Verstappen and his driving style, saying the Dutchman is one of the drivers he hopes to emulate. For the Brazilian, that dream may come sooner than he thought, as he will be part of the 2025 F1 grid next season.

Bortoleto currently leads the Formula 2 championship, with his talent showing itself with some fantastic performances this season. As a result, it was announced that the Brazilian will make the move to Formula 1, driving for Sauber, or Stake F1 Team, with an official announcement made last week. He will partner up with Nico Hulkenberg, replacing both Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen's driving style has come under fire recently in the 2024 season, with his uncompromising defending and attacking resulting in two ten-second penalties for forcing Lando Norris off the track at the Mexican Grand Prix. However, Bortoleto, speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, was full of admiration for the Dutchman and the way he drives: "At the moment, I really like how Max drives. I particularly admire his qualifying laps and how much he extracts from that car in those laps. Obviously, it can be very hard. We have seen that in the last few races, but obviously, they are fighting for the championship [Verstappen and Norris], so we all expect them to race each other like that."

Bortoleto said he used to be a fan of Verstappen too, concluding by saying: "I think since I was young I have always been amazed by the way Max drives. That's because I drove for a team he had also driven for in karting, so they always told me stories about him. I would always think, 'OK, what would Max do in this situation?' And I always wanted to be like him, because he won everything in the junior series," he concluded.

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