Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Fernando Alonso has called his protege Gabriel Bortoleto “an incredible talent” amid rumours that the Formula 2 title contender will step up to Formula 1 next year.
As previously reported by Formula Scout, the McLaren junior has paddock connections in F1 away from the team that he is currently affiliated with that have put him in contention for a place on the grid in 2025 since McLaren’s line-up is locked in.
He was mentioned as a contender for the second seat at Alpine before Jack Doohan secured that drive, and now he is considered to be in a strong position to join Sauber should the 2023 FIA Formula 3 champion continue to impress in his rookie F2 season.
Alonso meanwhile drives for Aston Martin, and oversees Bortoleto’s career through his A14 Management company.
“He’s an incredible talent and a very humble person as well, which I think that’s the biggest thing that we need to work on,” said Alonso to media at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Bortoleto will be racing on the support bill.
“He’s a hard worker, apart from his talent, and I think that’s why in F3 and F2 had this much progress. I think also he’s someone that is taking things very seriously as well, which at that age is never a guarantee.
“As we touched before on the budgets and things like that, he won the championship as a rookie in F3, and he’s fighting for the championship as a rookie in F2, but without the test of many other rookies. So he’s probably the only rookie, rookie on the championship. So this was an amazing achievement so far. And let’s see what the future brings. But, you know, it’s a matter of time that he gets to F1.
On the topic of budgets further down the motorsport ladder, Alonso had commented: “I think we all will agree that motorsport is extremely expensive right now, not only from the top categories. I think karting became a little bit too much, you know, 200,000, 250,000 [euros] for a season in karting now, it seems not logical starting point for any motorport enthusiast. So, yeah. It’s not an easy fix. And I don’t know how it could be policed in a way. But yeah, I think we are all concerned about that.”