The 2025 Saudi Arabian GP served up a hairy moment between mentor and mentee when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto almost squashed the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso into the wall on the outside of turn one during the 50-lap race.
The Brazilian rookie was defending against Liam Lawson when Alonso, who is also his manager, got alongside the #5 driver. Caught in Bortoleto’s blindside, the two-time world champion marginally missed ending his race by his own protege.
Given the Oviedo-born driver’s temperament, if it had been any other driver, Alonso would have gone ballistic. But he played the incident down before the media by joking about not offering Bortoleto any dinner on their flight back home.
While it may have been all fun and games after the incident, it would appear that Alonso has given the Brazilian youngster a talking-to in the break between the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and the Miami GP happening this weekend.
Their discussion has apparently led to the duo having thrashed out a few ground rules that the 2024 F2 champion will have to abide by when racing against the 43-year-old in the future—starting with the race in Florida itself.
Brazilian F1 presenter, Julianne Cerasoli revealed on X (formerly Twitter):
“Everything is resolved between Bortoleto and Alonso after the scare in Saudi Arabia: Gabriel just needs to give Fernando a friendly gap in the classification, and the rides on his jet are guaranteed.”
Tá tudo resolvido entre Bortoleto e Alonso após o susto da Arábia Saudita: é só o Gabriel dar um vácuo amigo na classificação para o Fernando, e as caronas no jatinho dele estão garantidas.
Quem disse, em tom de brincadeira, é claro, foi o próprio Gabriel.#F1
— Julianne Cerasoli (@jucerasoli) May 1, 2025
It wasn’t just Alonso who was caught by surprise by Bortoleto‘s move in the Grand Prix. After the race, in the cooldown room, the trio of Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, and Max Verstappen also felt startled after they watched a replay of the incident.
It even prompted race-winner, Piastri to joke about Alonso denying Bortoleto a seat on his private jet back to the UK.
After the race, the #5 driver gave his own view on the entire fiasco. He revealed that it was an unintentional move as he had in fact not even seen the Spanish racing ace charging down the outside of him.
“I didn’t see him, I didn’t know that he was actually there. I knew there was another guy and just a guy behind me, and as soon as the guy behind me overtook, I tried to open the corner and Fernando was there,” he explained as quoted by Formula1.com.
Nevertheless, Alonso is wise enough to understand that Bortoleto was only in his fifth F1 race and has a long way to go before he learns the intricacies of wheel-to-wheel combat. Naturally, he will be there to groom the 20-year-old get there. However, Bortoleto also needs to keep his nose clean. After all, he is the one in the cockpit.
