EXCLUSIVE - Gabriel Bortoleto: People don’t remember George Russell’s tough first year

Gabriel Bortoleto is used to winning and fighting at the sharp end.

The 20-year-old Brazilian won the Formula 3 title at the first attempt in 2023, before going on to be crowned Formula 2 champion a year later.

In doing so, Bortoleto achieved a feat only managed by three other drivers; Oscar Piastri, the current F1 championship leader, Mercedes’ George Russell, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Bortoleto was rewarded with F1 promotion for 2025, but his rookie season has been quite an adjustment process, having made his grand prix debut with Sauber, the team who ended 2024 dead last in the constructors’ championship.

Sauber have generally had the slowest package in the 2025 F1 field, though a big upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix helped Nico Hulkenberg land the team’s best result of the season, and only their second points finish.

Bortoleto is yet to score his first points in F1, registering a best finish of 12th in Barcelona, but he has done a very respectable job against his vastly experienced teammate across the first opening nine grands prix, particularly in qualifying.

Speaking exclusively to Crash.net ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Bortoleto rather reluctantly gave himself an “8.5/9” out of 10 when asked to rank how his first F1 season was going.

“I’m quite happy with what I’ve been doing this year. Obviously it’s not the position we want to be [in],” Bortoleto said.

“There is still a lot to play with. We believe we deserve to be fighting for points at least but we are not quite there yet as a team. But I’m quite happy with what I’ve been doing.

“I think I’ve been performing very well in qualifying sessions. I still need to make some progress in the race, understanding a bit better the situations in race conditions through the whole race.

“But I think this comes with experience and I am going to get there. But it has been so far very good. I have quite decent pace so that makes me happy.

“I’m not struggling with that so far and hopefully we can keep going like this and when we have a competitive car we will be fighting for bigger things.”

Asked what he has found to be the biggest challenge in stepping up from F2 to F1, Bortoleto replied: “Dealing with everything Formula 1 is!

“There’s so many things. So many things involved. Saving the energy through the weekends. The weekends here are quite busy.

"There is so much media stuff to attend, so many sponsor things to attend for the team. A lot of data information that we have in the car, more than F2, so we need to study more in that sense.

“A lot of different things in Formula 1 but I’m getting used to it.”

Adapting to a big mindset change

For Bortoleto, the challenge of helping push Sauber up the F1 pecking order ahead of their transition into Audi next year has required a big mindset switch.

For the past two seasons, Bortoleto, a protege of Fernando Alonso, rarely finished outside of the top 10 and he ended a championship-crowning 2024 campaign with two victories and eight podium finishes.

In F1, Bortoleto has had to get used to the feeling of not being able to fight for wins or front-running positions, something he admits has been “quite a big challenge” but one he has “been dealing with quite well”.

“I think when you fight you for wins, you get used to the feeling of winning and it’s addictive,” Bortoleto explained. “That’s a feeling that you never want to lose because winning is great. You know you are doing a great job.

"When you are not winning it just feels like you are always lacking something. In this position we are right now, we are far from winning and we still need to make a lot of steps to get there.

“But what makes me confident about the journey is the project we have ahead of us with Audi and everything we can achieve as a team, together with Nico [Hulkenberg] next year.

“So I’m really excited for that and looking forward to winning again one day, hopefully soon, and to have that feeling of standing up on the car and celebrating something big.”

Bortoleto beat Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar to the F2 title last year and also finished ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli but now finds himself unable to battle with either.

He arguably has the toughest job out of F1 2025’s rookie contingent, so is he frustrated?

“I’m not going to say it’s frustrating because I’m glad of the opportunity to be in Formula 1,” he responded to that question.

“There’s a lot of drivers that would love to be in my position right now and it doesn’t matter what position they would finish in the race. So it’s not frustrating.

“But it’s tough to see everyone you’ve raced your whole life, guys that I’ve raced last year and the previous year and I beat them.

“To see them doing well, I’m happy for them because it proves I was beating these people and they are doing well in Formula 1, they are great drivers and I have huge admiration for these guys, and I know I can do that.

"It’s just about having patience. This has been the biggest learning I’ve had this year, having patience and waiting because my time will come.”

Bortoleto can take heart from the likes of Leclerc and Russell, both of whom started out in F1 towards the back but are now considered two of the best drivers on the grid.

“Definitely I think having tough years, they are needed to become a better driver and person,” Bortoleto said.

“If I could, I would like to be already fighting for podiums, for wins, for points more constantly at least. That has not been the case yet.

“George Russell had a very tough first year, I don’t think he scored a single point, and look where he is right now. People don’t remember that.

“What is important is that one day I get to level and then I’ll be happy with where I am going to be.”