Photo: McLaren F1
McLaren junior and Formula 2 title contender Gabriel Bortoleto completed his first Formula 1 test at the Red Bull Ring on Friday.
The 19-year-old Brazilian drove McLaren’s MCL36 car from 2022 as part of the Testing of Previous Cars programme that enables F1 teams to put additional mileage on old chassis in private tests, usually to evaluate young drivers.
Bortoleto has been a McLaren Driver Development Programme member for 11 months, and also been a protege of two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso through his A14 Management company for the last two years.
Under Alonso’s watch he became the 2023 FIA Formula 3 champion as a rookie, and this year he has won two feature races, finished second in three other races and claimed two pole positions in his maiden F2 campaign. He is currently second in the standings, just 10.5 points off the summit. His results have thrust him into contention for an F1 role in 2025.
“I’m super happy to finish my first ever day in FP1,” said Bortoleto after concluding his time in the MCL36.
“Such a special moment for me. Since I was super young, dreaming about driving in one of these cars one day, and being able to do many, many laps like I did today. Learning new stuff; it’s a completely different thing [compared to] everything I drove in my life, but it’s the most unreal feeling as well. Just super happy, thanks to McLaren for making this dream come true and I hope to have another opportunity soon.”
McLaren will not have a space in its F1 line-up until 2027 at the earliest, but rather than take on a reserve driver role with the team next year he could leave its ranks to join Sauber.
Bortoleto was brought into the MDDP by Emanuele Pirro, who then left his role as director this April. He then became president of the FIA Single-Seater Commission, which has since been reassigned as one of the World Motor Sport Council’s committees (while the rest of circuit racing has its decisions at the FIA level formulated through commissions first).
In 2020, his son Goofy finished 22nd in the Formula Ford Festival and was Bortoleto’s engineer at Prema in Italian Formula 4. He remains with the team to this day, working in F1’s support series, while Bortoleto drives for Invicta Racing.
Pirro’s older brother Cristoforo works at Sauber as Valtteri Bottas’s trackside performance engineer. Bottas’s contract expires at the end of this year, and the stalemate of negotiations that have taken place to extend it have kept not only the team’s reserve driver Theo Pourchaire in contention but also brought Bortoleto into play.
When Bortoleto won F2’s feature race at Monza last weekend, Pirro Sr was waiting in parc ferme to congratulate him.
Bortoleto was also linked to joining Alonso’s former team Alpine before Jack Doohan secured the team’s second seat, and at Monza he told media including Formula Scout that A14 is fully responsible for handling negotations about his F1 future.