F1 2025 recap: Gabriel Bortoleto justified Sauber’s faith in him

Gabriel Bortoleto may have been the reigning Formula 2 champion, but by making his Formula 1 debut for the struggling Sauber squad the Brazilian's rookie season looked set to go unnoticed.

The first Brazilian on the grid in eight years, Bortoleto suffered a humbling debut experience in Melbourne, spinning out in difficult circumstances. But the former McLaren junior rebounded admirably, even if Sauber's lack of competitiveness meant he had nothing to show for it, resigned to finishes outside the points over the first 10 grand prix weekends. At the time Bortoleto admitted that run of point-less weekends weighed on him more than he had anticipated, having been used to fighting for wins every weekend in F3 and F2.

Sauber's 2025 season started in earnest in Barcelona, the scene of a major upgrade package that included an updated floor. The new parts didn't dramatically change the C45, but given F1 2025's tight midfield margins, that was all it took to lift Sauber into the thick of the midfield battle instead of the tail end. And with that, Bortoleto's rookie season saw lift-off as well. The youngster finally earned his first points with eighth place in Austria, and had two more standout performances in Hungary – qualifying seventh and finishing sixth – and Monza, which yielded another eighth place.

While Bortoleto's maiden campaign was far from perfect, including a gut-wrenching home debut in Brazil that ended in two crashes, he has both shown the required pace and the strength of personality to thrive in the highest echelons of motor racing.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

That was particularly evident in his raw pace against ace qualifier Nico Hulkenberg. While the German veteran grabbed Sauber's headline result with a long overdue podium in Silverstone, Bortoleto embarked on a run of eight consecutive qualifying sessions outqualifying his team-mate. Hulkenberg recovered to level the qualifying score at 15-15, but was kept honest by a youngster still learning the ropes.

"I think it's all about the confidence you have in the car, and it has been a great season in that sense to be matching a guy like Nico," Bortoleto said. "He is known as one of the best qualifiers in the grid, it's quite an impressive thing from my point of view and I'm very glad because I've been able to learn a lot from him as well."

Internally, Sauber has been mightily impressed with Bortoleto's speed, attitude and relentless work ethic, justifying its decision to pair a veteran with a promising rookie rather than putting another safe pair of hands next to Hulkenberg as it morphs into the Audi works squad.

Reviewing his own season, Bortoleto felt improving his technical understanding of what he needs from an F1 car was the biggest takeaway into 2026. "On the technical side of things, the amount of information and lessons I got through the year from the engineers, and studying and doing all of these things together; it was great," he said, before following up with his trademark self-criticism. "Last year in post-season I basically didn't know anything. I didn't have a clue what I wanted from the car, what I needed from the car."