Gabriel Bortoleto has watched Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar celebrate their first Formula 1 podiums. Both are from his generation of drivers, having competed against him throughout the junior categories.
So he knows them well, having raced against and beaten them - but their respective F1 careers have taken different paths so far. While Antonelli and Hadjar have already enjoyed podium success, Bortoleto is helping Audi build a team that hopes to challenge at the front in the coming years.
It would be understandable if Bortoleto felt impatient, but the 22-year-old has accepted that his opportunity may take longer to arrive.
“They're the two drivers from my generation who are getting podiums,” the Brazilian told Autosport. “I've raced against them all my life. The truth is that I did well against them in the junior categories, and I know what I'm capable of. But I have to be patient. Everyone has their own path. Let's see where we all end up in 20 years."
Bortoleto has already achieved his childhood dream of reaching F1, but the experience has also brought new challenges. After years of fighting for wins and championships in the junior categories, he now has to judge his progress by different standards.
"I'm very happy to be in Formula 1,” he added. “It's the first step towards a dream I've always had. At the same time, to be honest, it's also difficult when you come from the junior categories, where you've been winning, and then arrive in Formula 1 knowing you can't fight at the front. It's been almost two years now. Today, the goal is to score points, and that's not easy."
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
What keeps Bortoleto motivated is his belief in Audi's future. He doesn't see the team as a stepping stone to a seat elsewhere, or his current situation as an opportunity to attract the attention of an established frontrunner. He wants to be part of the project when Audi itself becomes a winning team.
"What motivates me and keeps me going is the project I'm part of,” said the 2023 F3 and 2024 F2 champion. “I'm not in a team whose ambition is to stay where we are today. I'm in a team that's improving every year and has a clear long-term plan. I hope that one day I'll look back and see that everything we've been through helped us reach the top."
Bortoleto is also aware that, given his age and potential, he is expected to play an important role in Audi's future. But he sees that as a source of pride rather than pressure.
"Pride, yes. Pressure, no,” he said. “There will be difficult moments, there will be times when you're not winning, and I have to keep working on my mindset, on myself, and developing as a driver. Because the day Audi gives me the opportunity to win, with a winning car and a winning engine - and it will happen, I don't think it will take that long - I'll have to be ready to show what I can do."
Bortoleto is convinced that Audi will eventually give him the machinery to compete at the front. He understands that it may take time, but he also knows how quickly the competitive order in F1 can change.
"Right now, Hadjar and Kimi are definitely closer to the ultimate goal, which is winning a world championship. But everything could change in a year. You never know. I just have to keep doing my best,” said Bortoleto, who is 15th in the drivers’ standings, with Audi eighth in the constructors’ championship.
‘Mattia Binotto is much more than a boss’
Mattia Binotto, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
One of the people Bortoleto regularly turns to for advice about his situation is Mattia Binotto. The man leading Audi's F1 project experienced Ferrari's successful years from within the team and has worked through very different periods in its history. He is now involved in building a new operation with ambitions of reaching the front, and Bortoleto values that experience.
"I talk to Mattia a lot,” he said. “I often ask him for help with this situation because I know he has a lot of experience and understands what I'm going through now. He's already been part of a winning team, and now he's in a team that wants to win. He helps me a lot."
Their relationship has also developed beyond what Bortoleto initially expected from the person running his team.
"He's a mentor, a friend, a boss, but he's also very different from what I imagined,” claimed Bortoleto. “Because normally, when you have a boss, the relationship is a bit formal. But he's different. I don't just see him as a boss, but also as someone I can go to for advice about my personal life. That's a really nice aspect of our relationship."
Another person Bortoleto turns to for advice is Max Verstappen. The two are friends and share an interest in sim racing, which gives the Brazilian plenty of opportunities to ask questions. Rather than focusing exclusively on driving techniques or preparing for qualifying, Bortoleto is particularly interested in Verstappen's experience of Red Bull's development into a championship-winning team.
"I talk to Max often,” revealed Bortoleto. “Obviously, the details stay between us, but we often talk about how I'm feeling, how I'm developing, what I want from Audi and how we're progressing as a team. I ask him questions about what he experienced at Red Bull before winning the world championship: what things were like, how the team worked."
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
And sometimes those conversations take place during a gaming session.
"These are things that sometimes come into my head while we're playing, so I ask him,” said Bortoleto.
Binotto and Verstappen can offer Bortoleto different perspectives on the same challenge. Binotto has experience of working within a successful organisation and helping develop a team with ambitions of winning, while Verstappen knows what it is like to spend years working towards a first world championship.
For Bortoleto, their advice is valuable as he tries to develop both as a driver and as part of a team that is not yet ready to fight for victories.
The boy who never wanted a Plan B
Bortoleto's willingness to be patient today contrasts with his attitude during his junior career, when he refused to consider any alternative to reaching F1.
"Never," he replied, when asked whether he ever had a Plan B.
"A lot of people told me it was wrong to think that way, and maybe it was, because there are many great categories in motorsport where you can become a professional and race at a high level. But I wanted to reach Formula 1 because that was what I'd dreamed of since I was a child."
As he progressed through the junior categories, people around him tried to make him consider the possibility that an F1 opportunity might never come. There were only so many seats available, driver turnover was limited and plenty of talented drivers had missed out.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing, Monza 2024
Photo by: Invicta Virtuosi Racing
"They would tell me, 'Even if you win Formula 3, and even if you're winning Formula 2, what are you going to do if it doesn't happen,” he said. "And I'd reply, 'I can't get that into my head. Don't even tell me that.' I'd get angry and walk away."
Bortoleto went on to win the F3 championship as a rookie before stepping up to F2 the following year. One of the defining moments of that campaign came at Monza in 2024.
He ended up in the gravel at the first Lesmo during qualifying, at a crucial stage of his championship battle. Title rival Hadjar was due to start third, while Bortoleto faced the prospect of starting from the back of the grid. For a few minutes, he feared the damage to his championship hopes could be considerable.
"I said to myself, 'I'm starting last, he's starting third. Even if I drive the race of my life, where can I finish? We all have the same cars, it's not as if one is much better than another. Even the engineers were saying it wouldn't be easy to overtake,” he said.
Bortoleto went on to win the race.
"With everything that happened during the race, winning was an incredible feeling for me. Something really special."
The result also came at a crucial point in his efforts to secure an F1 seat. Bortoleto had yet to sign a contract and knew that every opportunity to demonstrate his ability mattered.
"I had to show that I deserved an opportunity," he claimed.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The phone call that made 20 years of work worthwhile
When confirmation of his F1 seat finally came, Bortoleto initially struggled to believe what he was hearing. Talks with Audi had been going on for some time, but he had not known whether the opportunity would be for 2025 or 2026. Then his manager called to tell him the date of the announcement.
"I said to him, 'What announcement? For 2026?' And he said, 'No, for 2025!' I replied, 'What are you talking about, 2025?' And he said, 'You'll be racing as a full-time driver in 2025.'"
Bortoleto was at his home in Milan with his girlfriend when he received the news. He immediately called his family in Brazil.
"I made a video call with my dad, my mum and my brother, and I said, 'I have something to tell you. Stop everything!' I remember my mum was crying, my brother was incredibly excited and my father didn't know what to say,” he said.
For Bortoleto, the moment was about more than securing an F1 contract. It was also an opportunity to reflect on the years of karting, travelling and sacrifices his parents had made to support his career - many of which he had been too young to fully appreciate at the time.
"It's impossible to explain what it means,” he said. “But it's the result of 20 years of work. I know how many days my father wasn't at home, how many races he couldn't come to watch when I was little because he had to work."
The Bortoleto family had no previous background in motorsport. His father worked in the internet and telecommunications industry before becoming involved in Brazilian motor racing, where he now runs the Stock Car series.
Rubens Barrichello in the Stock Car Pro Series
Photo by: Duda Bairros
"They made so many sacrifices, including living away from me so they could keep working. And that day, when we had that video call, I think what went through my mind was that it was a huge achievement for me, but an even bigger one for my mum and dad. All those sacrifices had been worth it."
That family background also appears to have influenced Bortoleto's attitude towards money. Asked whether F1 drivers compare their salaries and compete over who earns the most, he smiles at the suggestion.
"I don't care how much other drivers earn,” he claimed. “What matters to me is having a winning car and a good project ahead of me. The money comes as a consequence. If you're a great champion, you'll never be short of money. If you're winning races, the last thing you should be worrying about is how much money you're making."
He also believes that earning a significant amount of money comes with responsibilities towards others: "If anything, the question is where to spend it or who to help. If you make all that money and don't help the people around you, you don't deserve it."
A mind that never switches off
Bortoleto admits that he finds it difficult to stop thinking about racing. Video games provide a way to relax, even when he is still spending his free time behind a virtual steering wheel.
"My mind is always on racing,” he said. “I need something that helps me switch off from what I do for the rest of the day. Sometimes it's still motorsport, but in a different way. I'm laughing, I'm having fun, it's not work. I don't have to chase perfection."
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Perfection is something Bortoleto believes no human driver can truly achieve, however close they might come.
"The perfect lap? No, I don't think it exists, because perfection would mean being able to say, 'There was nothing more I could have done.' But you can have a lap that's very close to perfection. Perfection isn't human. For me, perfection is what you get in computer simulations."
That attitude also shapes how Bortoleto approaches his own development. Rather than judging himself solely by his current results, he wants to make sure he continues learning and improving throughout his career.
"I study, I try to understand,” he said. “In the end, when I look back at my career in 20 or 30 years, I don't want to think that I didn't do everything I could."
It is another reference to the long-term perspective that runs through Bortoleto's approach to F1. He is prepared to wait and see where he, Antonelli and Hadjar stand in 20 years, just as he wants to look back on his own career knowing he made the most of his opportunities.
For now, that means accepting that other drivers of his generation are fighting for podiums while he helps Audi develop into a team capable of challenging at the front. He sees those years as part of the process of reaching his ultimate goal, rather than time lost waiting for a competitive car.
Before the interview ends, there is one final question: where does Gabriel Bortoleto hope to be in five years?
"Hopefully winning world championships, obviously with Audi."
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