Gabriel Bortoleto reveals what manager Fernando Alonso told him after first F1 point

Gabriel Bortoleto has opened up about his memorable late-race battle with his Formula 1 manager Fernando Alonso during the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Sauber rookie closed in rapidly on seventh-placed Alonso in the final stint of Sunday’s race at Spielberg, having bolted on fresh tyres on lap 49 of 70.

But despite his best efforts, the Brazilian driver couldn’t find a way past the two-time F1 champion, ending up half a second down in eighth.

His final opportunity disappeared when race leader Lando Norris came through to lap both cars towards the end, effectively shortening their race by one lap and sparing Alonso from a final attack.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Fernando Alonso battled at F1 Austrian Grand Prix

But despite losing the battle for seventh place, Bortoleto said he enjoyed his on-track tussle with the Spaniard and praised him for his racecraft.

“He has a lot of experience,” said the 20-year-old. “He knew how to play perfectly with the blue flags and everything. He almost overtook Norris back on the back straight.

“But he knew exactly how to do it, without doing it wrong. Just perfect.”

Asked if he learned a lot by following Alonso so closely, Bortoleto added: “For sure, but that's a study you should have when you are home, relaxing and going onboard of the guy and check every single line, the way he looks at the mirror, the way he brakes to get the DRS in the right position.

“You are focused on trying to overtake and I felt like a young boy trying to get his first points.

“And the guy [Alonso] was just relaxed there, trying to defend. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was under control of the race there. He had worse tyres and he still managed to keep me behind for two laps. So that was a very good job for him.”

Following the chequered flag, Alonso hugged Bortoleto in parc ferme and congratulated him for scoring his first points finish in F1.

The Sauber driver has been a part of Alonso’s management team A14 Management since 2022.

“He was like, I am very happy for you, for your first point and you did a great job’,” said Bortoleto.

Alonso, who was on a one-stop strategy compared to Bortoleto’s two, admitted that he had to resort to unusual tactics when Norris came to lap them in order to keep Bortoleto at bay.

"And then at the end, Gabriel was a lot faster," the Aston Martin driver admitted. "I thought, I could not defend, but luckily enough, Lando came just at the right moment [and] blue flags [were shown].

"And because Lando overtook us, the next lap was the chequered flag, because we got lapped.

"So, it was a perfect combination and a lucky race to finish P7.

"I didn't want to pass Lando, but I could not stay just behind Lando, because then Gabriel would pass me, so I had to try different moves to confuse Gabriel a little bit about what I was doing and at what point."