The 2025 season will see the arrival of several young talents as six rookies will join the grid. One of them is 2024 F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, who will drive for Sauber. Although Nico Hulkenberg, who will join Bortoleto at Sauber next year, has never competed against the Brazilian, he already knows the kind of talent his future teammate possesses because of a rare feat the 20-year-old achieved this season.
“If you win Formula 3 and Formula 2 in your first season, then that is really special”, Hulkenberg said (as quoted by f1maximaal.nl). “It has been a while since this last happened, so he (Bortoleto) is really a great talent, a promising driver”.
While it is true that not many drivers have won F3 and F2 in their maiden seasons, it is only a few seasons back when Oscar Piastri achieved the same feat. The Australian won the F3 title in 2020 and the F2 championship in 2021, both with Prema Racing. Before him, both George Russell and Charles Leclerc also achieved the same feat.
MAX VERSTAPPEN ENTREGANDO O TROFÉU DE “ROOKIE DO ANO” PRA GABRIEL BORTOLETO!!! pic.twitter.com/rkH9Hxe9Yr
— Blog Fórmula 1 (@blog_formula1) December 13, 2024
Considering that Piastri, Russell, and Leclerc have all been tipped as future world champions, it seems that Bortoleto indeed does have a promising future in F1. Another man who knows all about him is Fernando Alonso, the driver whose management company, A14 Academy, groomed the Brazilian to reach this stage in his motorsport career.
“Gabriel is the best of them”: Alonso
Alonso recently gave an interview where he was asked about the various rookies that will join the 2025 grid. While he believes all of them are “incredibly talented,” he added, “But Gabriel is the best of them”. While one would expect such a comment from Alonso, considering Bortoleto trained at his academy, there is indeed merit in the Spaniard’s argument.
Among the six rookies that will compete in F1 in 2025, Bortoleto defeated three of them — Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, and Isack Hadjar — to the F2 title this year, a series where all the drivers compete in almost equal machinery, unlike F1.
Alonso, having competed in inferior machinery for most of his F1 career, feels for Bortoleto, who will drive for a backmarker team like Sauber next season. The 43-year-old stated, “Other newcomers will have better cars. I hope people don’t forget that he is better than the rest. He is now, and he will remain so”.
And who better to make such an assessment than a driver, who is not only the most experienced in the sport but continues to defy age? As a matter of fact, seven drivers — Bortoleto, Antonelli, Bearman, Hadjar, Piastri, Liam Lawson, and Jack Doohan — were not even born when Alonso made his debut with Minardi, back in 2001.
