The Kickstart Kid

We catch up trackside with new rookie GABRIEL BORTOLETO as he gears up for his first ever Australian Formula One Grand Prix…

SStake F1 Kick Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto has been waiting his entire life for this moment. The 20-year-old Brazilian is relaxed and cheery as we sit down in the paddock ahead of his first ever Formula 1 race in Melbourne’s Albert Park. F1 driver pairings are typically shotgun weddings and this year’s line up at Sauber pairs Bortoleto with grid veteran Nico Hulkenberg. The lime green team is located at the far end of the paddock to reflect the team’s last place finish in 2024.
There’s an unfortunate air of low expectations, with the consensus being Bortoleto just needs to cling on until 2026, when welcome regulation changes are set to take effect and close the gap between the top four teams and everyone else. Next year will also see Sauber officially rebrand as Audi, meaning a lot more investment and higher hopes for the team in the midfield. Gabriel also joins F1 amid one of the biggest shake ups to the grid in years which has essentially ushered in a new era for the sport and lots of new names to remember.
The class of 2025 rookies include Aussie Jack Doohan, Kimi Antonelli, Isaac Hadjar and Oliver Bearman. Despite being within spitting distance of F1, the differences between F2 and F1 are vast. The quantum leap from Formula 2 to Formula One sees drivers say goodbye to poorly attended press conferences and become international celebrities overnight. For Bortoleto, it means becoming the pride of Brazil, or at least São Paulo, when the Formula One rolls into town in November. The South American nation’s history in the sport is illustrious including the likes of Nelson Piquet, Rubens Barrichello and arguably the sport’s greatest ever driver Aryton Senna.

But it was a different legend of the sport who helped this particular Brazilian make it into Formula 3 and ultimately onto the F1 grid. Spaniard Fernando Alonso took a crucial role in Gabriel’s rise after a fortuitous meeting between Bortoleto’s father and Alonso and some associates in 2022. A meeting that would ultimately lead to a management deal with Alonso’s A14 agency which brokered Bortoleto’s entry into Formula 3 with Trident. He moved up to Formula 2 last year after winning the F3 title and completed a special milestone after winning the F2 championship in December. The feat meant Bortoleto joined an elite club, including Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri, to win back-to-back F3 and F2 crowns.
The weather on race day at Albert Park is miserable and six cars ultimately succumbed to the slippery and wet conditions, including Bortoleto, his mentor Alonso and several of the rookies. Through the chaos, Hulkenberg rises to a seventh-place points finish, securing more points for Sauber in one race than the green machines won all of last season. But that was all to come. First, Bortoleto opens up to MAXIM about his love for Albert Park, competing against his mentor Fernando Alonso and why he can’t start a Grand Prix weekend without a bowl of açai.

Hey, Gabi, how does it feel to be in Melbourne for your first ever F1 race?
It feels amazing – I’m very excited to start this new journey. I’ve been working very hard my entire life to get to Formula 1 and now I have finally the possibility to do so. I love Albert Park, it has been one of the most special places of my career and it was here where I won my first F3 race – second, actually, but first on track, race win. That was super special for me and hopefully it can keep going like this. I love Australia – it reminds me a bit of Brazil. There is many Brazilians here, so I feel a bit like home.

Have you met any of the Brazilians in Melbourne?
Yes, I have friends that live here, they are very nice people. I think you guys have a lot of açai here as well. Açai, you know, it’s a Brazilian thing, so I’ve eaten (açai) already four days in a row. It reminds me of home. You know, the way the way people are and the way they behave when there’s people from outside coming to Australia is super nice, super welcoming. It’s definitely one of my favourite events of the year.

Brazil has such a rich history in motor sport and some of the greatest drivers of all time. How does it feel to be the first full-time Brazilian on the grid in seven years?
It feels amazing. I’m looking forward to doing this with the team and obviously it’s good for Brazil as well to finally have someone back (in F1). They finally have someone to wake up super early in Brazil on Sundays to watch and hopefully I can keep that promise.

How do you feel going into the car, working with the team, engineers…?
They are great people and it’s a great atmosphere inside the team. I really love being with them. They have welcomed me in a way I wasn’t expecting. When you’re a rookie in Formula 1, you are always a bit scared to enter a team that’s been in this game for so long and how much are they going to trust you, how much are they going to want you there. Every single department has been amazing to me and I’m feeling very comfortable, very confident for my first round.

Fernando Alonso was a huge support in getting you into Formula 3 and now you’re racing with him as an F1 competitor. How does it feel?
It feels amazing. He was on the grid before I was born, so to be racing with him is an amazing thing. When I was in Formula 3 I was already managed by him and it became one of my goals and a bit of a dream to race against him. One day I will be able to tell people that I’ve raced against Fernando Alonso, one of the greatest of the sport, everything he achieved and everything he has done for me, it’s him and the A14 team. Everyone that works in the company, Albert and Alberto and everyone else, they have been amazing and created all these opportunities in my life.

How do you unwind off the track?
I love to stay home. I love to watch a movie with my family or stay with my girlfriend, just having fun enjoying the time at home. I also like to go to restaurants because I really enjoy good food and I’m not that much of a great cook.