Brazilian rookie and reigning F2 champion. Joined Kick Sauber for 2025 alongside Nico Hülkenberg, becoming the first Brazilian on the full-time F1 grid in eight years. Already hailed by Fernando Alonso as the best rookie of his generation.

Gabriel Bortoleto started his motorsport journey in karting, competing at national and international level from a young age. In 2020, he made his single-seater debut in the Italian F4 Championship with Prema Racing, where he immediately showed his potential. In 2021, he moved to the Formula Regional European Championship with FA Racing by Hitech, backed by Fernando Alonso's management team, and continued his progression in 2022 with R-ace GP in the same series.

His rise through the ranks accelerated in the following seasons. Bortoleto joined the McLaren junior driver program and signed with Invicta Racing for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship. He dominated the series, clinching the F2 title and earning himself a coveted seat in Formula 1 with Kick Sauber — the team transitioning to become the works Audi entry — for the 2025 season.

2025

Gabriel Bortoleto made his Formula 1 debut in 2025 with Kick Sauber alongside Nico Hülkenberg. His rookie season was a study in resilience: the Sauber C45 was the slowest car on the grid in the opening months, and mechanical problems plagued the team's early rounds. The turning point came at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, where the team introduced a significant upgrade package. From that point, Bortoleto found his rhythm, delivering his standout result with a P6 finish in Hungary — the team's best result of the season. He outqualified his experienced teammate Hülkenberg on numerous occasions, a remarkable feat for a rookie, and closed out his debut season 19th in the championship with 19 points — a career-best rookie haul as the team prepared for its full transformation into the works Audi entry.

2026

Audi's first full works season didn't fully click for Bortoleto until later in the year. A promising ninth in Australia yielded early points, but seven races without a single point followed — including a DNS in China — before back-to-back eighth-place finishes at Great Britain and Belgium doubled his tally in a fortnight. Finishes just outside the points at Monza and in Madrid's inaugural Spanish Grand Prix closed out the run to the summer break. Through fourteen rounds he sits 14th in the championship with 10 points, edging ahead of teammate Hülkenberg and continuing to build the reputation that made him back-to-back F3 and F2 champion before he'd even started in Formula 1.