Sauber sign rookie Bortoleto for 2025 season

Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto has been signed to drive for the Audi-owned Sauber team next year.

The 20-year-old, who is leading this year’s Formula 2 championship, will partner German veteran Nico Hulkenberg.

The decision means that Sauber’s current drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, will not be in F1 next season.

Sauber chief operating and technical officer Mattia Binotto said it had been a “straightforward decision with no doubts at all”.

The team chose to give Bortoleto his F1 debut because they had been “impressed by his career so far,” Binotto said.

He said Bortoleto was “one of the most talented and high potential drivers we have as rookies.”

Binotto added that he had been reassured by the performances of Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto since he was drafted in by Williams for the final part of the season.

“Seeing young drivers doing well gave me more confidence that Gabriel can do well from the start,” Binotto said. “I am convinced he will do well from the very start.”

Bortoleto, who was champion in Formula 3 in his debut season in 2023 before moving into F2 this year, had “already demonstrated in the junior categories that he has what it takes to be a winning driver,” Binotto said.

Bortoleto is managed by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and has been a part of the McLaren driver development programme.

McLaren said in a statement that they would release him at the end of the 2024 season.

“We have a strong driver line-up in Lando (Norris) and Oscar (Piastri) and we have always been clear that we would not stand in the way of an opportunity for Gabriel to progress while we are not in the position to offer him a seat with McLaren,” the statement said.

Bortoleto said he and Alonso “always joke” about the fact they will be racing aganst each other from 2025.

“Before I was born he started racing in F1,” Bortoleto said, “and now I will be racing against him. He has been helping me a lot in my journey. It will be fun and I will have good time with him.”

Binotto said: “I have been asking to some drivers who have been driving with you and everyone was very impressed. But also because he is very young.

“For our journey for the Audi F1 team, growing together with a young driver was very important.

“When we met I was immediately impressed by the attitude. So not only as a driver we decided, but as a person. He can really be a leader for the team.”

Bortoleto said: “This is one of the most exciting projects in motorsport, if not in all of sports.

“Beyond simply being a member, I aim to grow with this ambitious project and reach the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Mattia was super confident about the Audi project and how I could develop as a driver as well.

“I see a lot myself in this project. I needed to convince him much more than he needed to convince me, but I identified a lot (with it).”

Binotto, who was Ferrari team principal from 2019-22, said last month that turning Sauber into a winning team under the Audi name was “not only climbing a big mountain, it’s climbing Everest”.

He said in a video released by Sauber on Wednesday: “It will take a few seasons to become a a competitive team. Our objective will be to be aiming to fight for a championship in 2030, and even that is very ambitious.”

The team released separate statements thanking them for their work.

Bottas, who made his debut in F1 for Williams in 2013 and won 10 races in his five years at Mercedes as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton from 2017-21, said: “A situation like this is never easy for anyone. But after all the good and in-depth discussions we had in the past weeks, we realised that the conditions to grow this project together were not met.

“These past years with the team have been an incredible journey, full of growth, challenges, and unforgettable moments.

“Though it’s time to move on, I’ll always carry a piece of this team with me, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for us both.”

Bortoleto gives Brazil a full-time presence on the F1 grid since Felipe Massa left the sport at the end of 2017.

The country is one of the most successful in F1, with former drivers including multiple world champions Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.