EXCLUSIVE: How Fernando Alonso helped guide Gabriel Bortoleto to F1

Not many F1 drivers can say they have a two-time world champion in their corner, but that is true for Gabriel Bortoleto.

The Sauber rookie is supported by Fernando Alonso, who has helped guide Bortoleto’s career on the road to F1. 

The 20-year-old Brazilian arrived in F1 with quite a reputation, having joined Charles Leclerc, George Russell and current championship leader Oscar Piastri in a very exclusive club by winning back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles.

But before Bortoleto’s breakthrough, his career was hanging in the balance in 2022 when he was struggling to secure a seat in F3. That is when Alonso - via his management firm A14 - stepped in.

“I had a very good support from my family and sponsors at the time, but he definitely helped me to progress in good teams and to be in the right position,” Bortoleto told Crash.net in an exclusive interview. 

“He saved my career in the sense of maybe without him I wouldn’t have been in the team I was in Formula 3. And if I was not in that team, who knows if I was going to win the championship or not. That’s the question mark.

“So in that sense he has helped me a lot. He was the guy that gave me those opportunities to be in those teams.”

2023 would prove to be Bortoleto’s big break as he went on to win the F3 championship at the first attempt with Trident, before going on to do the same in F2 the following year, this time with Invicta Racing.

Alonso’s involvement ultimately came about through a chance meeting between Bortoleto’s father and the Spaniard.

“My father met him in one of the Formula 1 races,” Bortoleto explained. “I was not there. They had a friend in common that introduced him to Fernando and they spoke.

“I needed a manager at the time and Fernando was creating A14 at the time. Everything was a great match and we started working together.”

Advice from a two-time F1 world champion

Bortoleto acknowledges it is “very important” to have someone like Alonso on his side as he learns his trade in F1.

“Fernando is a guy who has done a lot of things for my career since Formula 3, putting me in good teams. He gave me a lot of good advice and helped me get to Formula 1,” he said.

“I’m glad for everything he has done for me and I’m grateful. Him, together with Alberto [Fernandez Albilares] and Albert [Resclosa Coll], they are one of the reasons why I’m in Formula 1, together with my family and sponsors.

“For sure he’s one of the drivers I am closest to. We have a very professional relationship, but also a very good personal one. I’m grateful to be able sometimes to speak to him and to be open about how things are going for me.”

Asked what the best piece of advice Alonso has given him is, Bortoleto said: “Just to extract everything you have from every situation.

“He didn’t give me this this year because we are already in the position. He gave me this in Formula 3 and Formula 2.

“Do everything you can with the car you have - if you have a car to win, you win. If you have a car to finish P6, you finish P5. You do everything you can a bit more and this will prove the driver that you are.”

Alonso is renowned for being a fierce compeitor, so has anything changed now the pair are on-track rivals?

“We speak a bit less but I think just because of time,” Bortoleto said.

“We are very busy and it’s difficult to find perfect timing for each other. Sometimes maybe he has free time and I don’t have it, or vice-versa. But he has been very open to me and he didn’t change anything.”

A shared racing hero

Something Alonso and Bortoleto have in common is their racing hero; Ayrton Senna.

“Senna is my hero and has been the guy that I aimed to one day try to be, not only on track but also outside the track,” Bortoleto said.

“He was great for Brazil and for everyone, and I’m glad for everything he did for the country. My father used to tell me history about him since I’m born.

“Basically I grew up listening about that guy at home and how great he was as a person and as a driver, so for sure you get inspiration from someone like that.”

He may be too young to have watched Senna race, having been born 10 years after the three-time world champion’s tragic death, but that didn’t stop Bortoleto growing up on old footage of the legendary Brazilian.

“There’s a lot of them actually and just unreal for the time,” Bortoleo added. “When he was racing, the things he was doing was completely… He was just ahead, he was ahead of everyone.

"Donington, what he did in the first lap, Suzuka when he stalled and overtook everyone and won the title, I think it was 88.

“Monaco when he crashed when he was a minute ahead, it proves how quick the guy is. Just missed lapping P2 at the time. When he won the first race in Estoril in the Lotus. So many things!”

Brazil has a rich and successful history in F1, producing 33 grand prix drivers and three world champions. Bortoleto - the first full-time Brazilian grand prix driver since 2017 - admits he feels the pressure and weight of expectation from his home country. 

“A bit yes, but again, they are great people supporting me and those who understand about the sport, they really know what they are talking about,” he explained.

“There’s some people who do not follow much the sport and they don’t know the difference between cars and everything. But it’s okay. It’s up to us as well to explain how this sport works and how things go on in Formula 1.

“But yeah, I feel it a bit. Formula 1 in Brazil has always been a successful sport with many champions we had in the past, so hopefully I can one day be one of them.”