McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admits the team won’t stand in Gabriel Bortoleto’s way if Sauber wishes to offer the teenage racing driver a Formula 1 racing seat. However, the management would prefer to approve a loan move rather than allow the youngster to go permanently. Together with current Audi teammate Valtteri Bottas and backup driver Theo Pourchaire, Bortoleto has recently become one of the front-runners to partner Nico Hulkenberg. Franco Colapinto is also a strong candidate following the Argentine’s strong performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend.
Bortoleto has been making a strong case for himself after enjoying some success at the Formula 4 and Formula Regional levels. The 19-year-old Brazilian won the Formula 3 championship as a rookie last year and took the lead in the Formula 2 standings in Baku, again as a rookie.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both have long-term commitments with McLaren; therefore, the earliest possible opening at the Woking-based team should be in 2027. Stella is therefore willing to discuss Bortoleto’s future. Stella has been pleased not only with his junior driver’s performance and consistency but also with his attitude. Bortoleto has finished in the top 10 in 17 of the last 18 F2 races.
If Sauber chief operating officer Mattia Binotto came to me when you have such a talent, definitely you’re not going to stop him from having a chance in Formula 1. At the same time, we will be interested in finding a way to keep him in the McLaren family, because I think he’s a talent that in the future could be important for McLaren, Stella asserted.
We are safe for the long term with our two drivers. We couldn’t be any happier. But definitely, we would like to keep him in the McLaren family. But I’m sure we could find a solution. I tell Gabriel the same thing I tell the team: don’t look at the classification, just think about the chequered flag all the time and race one race at a time, with the feet on the ground, the Italian insisted.
For me, similar to Oscar, it’s not only the ability and the execution when he is in the car. From a driving point of view, he’s also—you know how humble these guys are, how available they are to just get the learning working with the team. At no point are they arrogant. And when you combine talent with hard work and this kind of value and attitude, I think it’s where you can grow as a driver. And Gabriel is another example of growing so rapidly, the 53-year-old team principal added.
If we think of the start of his F2 campaign, he had some hiccups at times—not necessarily only due to his driving; he had some car problems—but he didn’t give up. He stayed on the case, and now he is building step by step, Stella concluded.
Bortoleto leads the table with a score of 169.5 points this F2 season, while his arch-rivals Isack Hadjar, Zane Maloney, and Paul Aron have accrued 165, 135, and 133 on their tallies, respectively, with four races yet to take place across the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds. Further down the order, Jak Crawford, Victor Martins, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli remain in contention for the championship title.
