Sauber was going to signal Gabriel Bortoleto for the Audi venture in 2026 no matter if he raced for the staff in 2025, based on Mattia Binotto, however the staff’s COO and CTO says the timing was partly bolstered by the robust efficiency of Method 1 rookies this yr.
Bortoleto (pictured above), who’s presently main the Method 2 championship standings, was introduced on Wednesday as becoming a member of Nico Hulkenberg at Stake subsequent season, earlier than the Sauber-run staff turns into Audi the next yr for the beginning of latest laws. Hulkenberg and the Brazilian rookie will exchange the present pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, and whereas Binotto says the latest robust showings by the likes of Oliver Bearman have probably not stunned him, they’ve boosted confidence within the skill of newcomers to succeed immediately in F1.
“I understand how nice among the younger drivers are. I do know Ollie very properly due to my previous expertise — he was a part of our driver academy on the time,” mentioned Binotto, who served as Ferrari F1 staff principal from 2019-’22. “I knew that Ollie may do very properly in F1 and that was not a shock to me, to see how properly he’s performing at the moment.
“I believe, sure, they’re all doing very properly, and that’s nice. It’s nice for F1. However I belief all of them — I do know they will do properly, and I don’t suppose that I used to be ready to see them doing properly to decide.
“I adopted Gabriel’s profession, definitely much more intensively within the final weeks and months. I noticed him racing so properly, being impressed by the pace, the potential, but in addition by this capability to first develop and enhance. I believe he is without doubt one of the most gifted and high-potential drivers we’ve received as rookies, and for Audi, that was a no brainer — go for it.
“So, we might have gone for Gabriel — that might have been our alternative anyway. The second query we have been asking ourselves was ought to it’s immediately in ’25 or ought to we give him a while first to develop after which perhaps postpone to ’26?
“However lastly, sure, additionally seeing younger drivers doing properly in F1 gave me extra confidence with the truth that Gabriel can do very properly from the very begin, and that if any, that has been the convincing issue. Not of the general alternative for a younger, attention-grabbing younger driver for Audi — journey and venture it is vital and important — however extra how quickly may that perhaps be taking place; and once more, I’m satisfied he’ll do properly from the very begin.”
Bortoleto is about to affix Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson as rookies tackling their first full seasons in F1 subsequent yr, whereas Franco Colapinto has additionally been linked with a seat within the Pink Bull setup.
