Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Gabriel Bortoleto will be making his Formula 1 debut in 2025 with the Sauber team, serving alongside Nico Hulkenberg driving car No. 5.

As the reigning Formula 2 champion who had taken the title in Formula 3 the year prior, Bortoleto will be entering the sport with some serious credentials to his name — even if his professional open-wheel career only began in earnest in 2020.

As the 33rd Brazilian racer to enter Formula 1, Bortoleto will have some big shoes to fill, but he's already proved his merit. In 2023, he became Formula 3 Champion, and the following year, he took victory in Formula 2.

So strong was his 2024 performance that he earned both the FIA Rookie of the Year award as well as the Anthoine Hubert Award and ringing endorsements from Formula 1 drivers like Max Verstappene and Oscar Piastri.

Despite only racing professionally in open-wheel cars since 2020, Bortoleto has been karting since 2012, during which time he established a strong CV and earned a slot as a client of A14, Fernando Alonso's management company, as well as a member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme — the latter of which is no longer in play due to his new role at Sauber.

Carriera

Gabriel Bortoleto's official Formula 1 debut will come in 2025, allowing him to transition from a hot streak in Formula 2 directly into Formula 1.

When he hits the track for pre-season testing, it will be 20-year-old Bortoleto's third time in a Formula 1 car. His first experience came in September of 2024, when he piloted a McLaren MCL36 as part of the team's Testing of Previous cars program.

His second came during post-season testing at Abu Dhabi in 2024. During that session, he finished 18th fastest of 23 drivers.

Storia

Gabriel Bortoleto got his racing start in October of 2011, somewhere around his seventh birthday. The subsequent year, he entered Campeonato Sulbrasileiro de Kart, a regional Brazilian karting championship, before making the commitment to move to Europe when he was just 11 years old.

In 2018, Bortoleto's karting career seemed exceptionally promising thanks to third-place finishes in the European and World Championships in the OK-Junior class, as well as finishing vice-champion in the WSK Super Master Series. It took him one more year to find his future in professional open-wheel racing.

When he did so, it was by signing with Prema for the 2020 Italian F4 Championship; he won his first race in the fourth round of the season, finishing fifth overall in the title.

Still, his performance was strong enough to warrant a bump up to the Formula Regional European Championship in 2021, where he signed to FA Racing — a team affiliated with Fernando Alonso and run by MP Racing. A challenging year saw him finish 15th in the championship.

But he remained in FRECA through 2022, taking sixth overall with R-ace GP. To further bolster his skill, he contested six rounds of the Formula Regional Asian Championship, where he took one win.

In late 2022, Bortoleto signed with A14 Management, a driver development organization run by Fernando Alonso, and competed in a post-season Formula 3 test.

Bortoleto impressed, joining Trident for the 2023 season. With two wins and six podiums to his name, he secured a stunning championship win and inked a deal with McLaren to join the crew's Driver Development Programme. Understandably, he quickly moved up to Formula 2 for 2024.

As part of Invicta Virtuosi Racing, Bortoleto took another two wins, plus eight podiums. It was good enough to see him secure the championship ahead of Isack Hadjar — who will be joining Bortoleto on the 2025 Formula 1 grid.

In September, he completed his first test with McLaren, driving the MCL36 as part of a TPC program. Not long after, his name began to flutter around the Formula 1 world; as other F2 talents signed deals with F1 teams, drivers like Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri spoke out in favor of Bortoleto, saying they wouldn't hesitate to bring up to Formula 1.

Mattia Binotto of Sauber soon pinpointed Bortoleto as a potential teammate to Nico Hulkenberg. Rumors about his having already signed a deal emerged around the São Paulo Grand Prix, and those rumors were confirmed on November 6, 2024.

The instant promotion makes Bortoleto the first F2 champion to be promoted directly to F1 since Mick Schumacher was signed to Haas in 2021.

As 2024 wound to a close, Bortoleto was released from his contract with McLaren in order to pursue his future with Sauber. And at the 2024 FIA awards, he earned FIA Rookie of the Year and the Anthoine Hubert Award.

At the moment, there is very little information or speculation regarding Gabriel Bortoleto's net worth or about the financial terms of his contract with Sauber.

However, after the merging of Americanet and Vero, Bortoleto's father is now in charge of a company worth over £250 million.

Gabriel Bortoleto himself is supported by a slate of sponsors including Porto Seguro, Banco de Brasilia, and Qualcomm Snapdragon — three heavy hitters when it comes to providing critical funding for a young driver.

Gabriel Bortoleto comes from Brazilian racing royalty. His father, Lincoln Oliveira, is the CEO and co-owner of the Stock Car Pro Series, one of the premier racing series in Brazil. Oliveira became one of the biggest figures in Brazil's telecom industry thanks to his role as director of Americanet; the company merged with Vero in 2023, becoming one of the largest internet providers in Brazil.

Further, the Bortoleto family operates KTF Racing, which fields teams in both stock car racing and karting.

Not much is known about Bortoleto's mother, but we do know that he is the younger brother of Enzo Bortoleto, a former Italian Formula 4 and British Formula Three driver.

Since 2020, Bortoleto has been dating girlfriend Isabella Bernardini, a computer science student.