At 43, Fernando Alonso is the most veteran driver on the grid. He has been racing in the top category of motor racing since 2001, with the exception of 2002, when he was a reserve driver for Renault, and 2019 and 2020, his two years away from Formula 1, but not from motor racing. 22 seasons behind the wheel of a single-seater.
Alonso, a role model for Gabriel Bortoleto
As a result, many young—and not so young—drivers see Alonso as an idol, a role model for their lives and, in many cases, someone to follow in their footsteps to become world champion. Piastri, Sainz, Verstappen, Leclerc, Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Isak Hadjar… all of them have said at some point that the Asturian is their role model. But one stands out from the current grid who is also part of his representation agency.
He is Gabriel Bortoleto, who will be racing for the Sauber team from 2025 (Audi in 2026). The Brazilian arrived in Formula 1 with the support of Fernando Alonso, against whom he now competes directly in the top category of motor racing. Bortoleto belongs to the Spaniard’s representation agency, A14 Management.
All in all, ‘Gabi’, as he is known in the paddock, made his debut this year with Sauber, where he has yet to achieve the results he desires in a project that will become Audi’s big challenge starting next year. The Brazilian brought his country back to F1, the top category he reached with the help of Fernando Alonso, his mentor and manager.
Fernando Alonso saw a future champion in Bortoleto when he was racing in regional formulas.
In him, Alonso saw a future champion. The 20-year-old from Sao Paolo was a member of McLaren’s Young Driver Program during 2023 and 2024. In addition, in 2018 he finished third in the World Karting Championship and was champion in Formula 3 in 2023 and Formula 2 in 2024. Alongside Antonelli, Hadjar and Bearman, the Sauber driver is one of the most promising drivers in the new Formula 1.
But given that Norris and Piastri, due to their youth and results, were blocking his promotion in the papaya team, the young Gabi decided to change scenery and secured a seat with the Swiss team, where he is paired with Nico Hülkenberg this year. He is also the first Brazilian in F1 since Felipe Massa retired in 2017.
And it is here that Fernando Alonso is largely responsible for Bortoleto not only being in Formula 1, but also rubbing shoulders with the greatest drivers weekend after weekend. As he readily admits, Alonso rescued him when his single-seater career was hanging by a thread.
“We didn’t know how difficult it was to get a seat in F3. But…”
The youngster explains that he went through a rough patch in the lower categories: “We had a lot of problems in 2022. At that time, no one was following us. It was just my father and me, and we didn’t have the opportunity to go to F3 at that time,” he said on crash.net. It’s no secret that to get a seat, even in the smaller categories, you need sponsors and a team that is willing to bet on your talent as a future driver.
“We didn’t know how difficult it was to get a seat in F3. We thought, ‘Oh, it’s still July, we have time.’ Then I started hearing that PREMA was full, Trident was almost full, and I thought maybe we should start fighting for it,” he reflects. “It’s not easy, you need to find sponsors to help you get there,” adds Bortoleto.
“Then my father went to race at the Red Bull Ring with some friends. He met Fernando and (his old friends) Alberto (Fernández) and Albert (Resclosa Coll, the trio formed the management agency A14),” recalls the Brazilian. “Fernando knew who I was because I raced for his team in FRECA (Alpine European Regional Formula Championship). I achieved great results for the team, such as the first podium and the first row,“ says the Sauber rookie.
”I had very good support from my family, but it was Alonso who helped me progress in good teams and be in the right position,“ said the Brazilian. ”Fernando was interested in having me and we were interested in having a good manager who could help me in my career. And we started working together.“
”He saved my career in the sense that without him I wouldn’t have been in the team I was in in Formula 3. And if I hadn’t been in that team, who knows if I would have won the championship or not,” he explained.
Bortoleto joined the A14 agency in 2022; by 2023 he was already F3 champion
Bortoleto joined Fernando Alonso’s agency in 2022 and the following year was crowned F3 world champion in his debut season. He then repeated the feat, this time in F2, the silver category, the stepping stone to Formula 1. Only Leclerc and Piastri can boast of having done the same. This meteoric rise opened the doors to Sauber, which will become Audi next year, with an official seat, and now he is on the track with Fernando himself. The two have even had their moments in races such as Barcelona, where they battled on the track for one of the points-scoring places, which was ultimately taken by the Aston Martin driver.
What is Alonso like as a teacher? “Alonso is my great teacher, a very good teacher. He’s a very perfectionist person,“ he said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo. ”He’s a very focused, very dedicated person. That’s his greatest lesson, because often you don’t need to teach something, you need to be an example for others to learn from. He’s a clear example of the kind of driver I want to be one day. For me, that’s the greatest lesson he’s taught me. He’s a good person with a good heart,” he explained.
“‘Gabi’ is the best of the new generation.”
Bortoleto also pointed out one of the aspects of Alonso that has had the greatest impact on and helped the young talent from Sao Paulo: “Working with the team, being a leader, being a person who gets things done, a person who even in difficult moments keeps pushing,” he emphasized. And that’s the most important thing. Because yes, it’s true that you always have to achieve the best result you can, and if you have the car to finish 18th and you finish 17th, that’s fine. But it’s not that you always want to be 18th. Somehow, you have to push the team forward. And he’s always been very good at that.”
Fernando also has kind words for his protégé: “Gabi is very impressive, very good, but I’m not surprised. He’s the best of the new generation, along with Ollie [Bearman]. He’s very well prepared and has worked very hard to get where he is.” No one better to say that.