Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Gabriel Bortoleto began his competitive karting career at the age of seven, quickly winning multiple national titles before moving up to junior formula racing in 2020. Mentored by two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso, Bortoleto claimed his first major title in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship.
| Nationality | Brazilian |
|---|---|
| Born | Gabriel Bortoleto Oliveira 14 October 2004 Osasco, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
After gaining experience in karting across Brazil and Europe, Bortoleto made his single-seater debut in the 2020 Italian F4 season with Prema. Competing against a strong field, he finished fifth in a season ultimately won by Alpine junior Gabriele Mini. His performance earned him a promotion to the newly formed Formula Regional European Championship for the 2021 season.
The step up to a more powerful car proved challenging in his first year, where he joined Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team, then partnered with MP Motorsport, finishing 15th overall. His standout performance came with a second-place finish at the Red Bull Ring, ending just three seconds behind champion Gregoire Saucy.
In 2023, Trident signed Bortoleto for the F3 season, though he was not considered a top title contender in the preseason lineup with drivers like Paul Aron, Zak O’Sullivan, and reigning FRECA champion Dino Beganovic around him, including future Williams driver Franco Colapinto.
In a fiercely competitive season, Bortoleto’s steady performance proved decisive. He started strong with a second-place qualifying result for the opening round in Bahrain, where he won the feature race. At the following round in Melbourne, Bortoleto secured pole position; he climbed to sixth in the reversed-grid sprint and then drove a flawless lights-to-flag race in the feature, extending his lead in the championship by 20 points after just four races.
Though he didn’t win again in 2023, Bortoleto maintained his lead throughout the season, scoring consistently in every race from his Bahrain win in March until the Hungary feature in July. His streak ended with a retirement in the unusual Spa-Francorchamps sprint. Bortoleto clinched the title during that season’s Monza qualifying session, as his title rival failed to secure pole. He then delivered an impressive performance in the sprint race, effectively turning it into a victory lap by finishing second behind Colapinto.
Backed by McLaren for his rookie F2 season in 2024, Bortoleto joined Invicta Racing, formerly Virtuosi. The highlight of his season was his extraordinary victory from 22nd on the grid in the Monza feature race. A spin during qualifying left him without a competitive lap time, but he still managed to secure a point, finishing eighth in the sprint. By lap five of the feature race, Bortoleto had climbed to 14th, then took the lead as other drivers on soft tyres pitted early. When a late safety car was called, Bortoleto seized the chance for a strategic pit stop, rejoining in sixth. He then launched an aggressive series of overtakes to take the lead and ultimately claimed a remarkable victory.
The final step up to F1 came when rumours surfaced during the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend that Bortoleto had secured a contract with Sauber for the 2025 season. On 6 November 2024, Sauber confirmed the news, announcing that Bortoleto would join the team on a multi-year deal alongside Nico Hulkenberg, with the pair set to replace the departing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
Sources
- Who is Sauber’s new F1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto? autosport.com
- Gabriel Bortoleto wikipedia.org
