Gabriel Bortoleto joins Sauber F1 team next year following an exemplary rookie FIA Formula 2 campaign where he could be crowned champion at this weekend’s round in Abu Dhabi.
Incredibly, only half a point separates Bortoleto from his title rival, Isack Hadjar with just two races left to decide the outcome of the season.
Despite whether he wins the championship or not, he will achieve a life long goal of becoming an F1 driver after being let go by the McLaren team to allow him to race with the Swiss outlet.
Racing at Sauber, he will line up against one of the most experienced Formula One drivers on the grid, Nico Hülkenburg.
In this weekend’s press conference InsideF2 asked the Brazilian driver if having Hulkenberg as his team mate for next year will help make the big step up to the pinnacle of motorsport from F2 easier:
“It’s a big help. I’ve not talked to him yet. I think I will meet him this weekend, probably, hopefully.
“He looks like he is a very nice guy and he has so much experience. We all know that he is one of the fastest guys in F1, at least I rate him like that.
“It’s going to be very interesting to learn from him, to get his experience and to bring onboard, also what I can bring as a rookie that is obviously a fresh mentality, a young mentality and new things that I have learnt from F3 and F2, so let’s see but I am very excited to work with him.”
Bortoleto is looking to become the fourth driver in Formula 2 history to go from winning the third division series to winning the F2 championship as a rookie the following year. The other three drivers being Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri, some of F1’s finest talents.
After missing out on the Feature Race win and a crucial 25 points last weekend in Qatar due to a 5 second time penalty, he’ll be looking for a flawless run in Abu Dhabi especially with how little separates himself and Hadjar.
Image: Sauber F1
