Guenther Steiner names best rookie on the grid in "better than the car" statement

Guenther Steiner has argued that Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto is the best rookie on the Formula 1 grid this season. 

The Brazilian driver joined the Sauber F1 team after securing the Formula 2 championship in 2024 and the Formula 3 championship in 2023. While the 20-year-old is not the highest-scoring rookie of the season so far, he has caught the attention of former Haas team principal Steiner, who named him his 'rockstar' of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Because I know how good Nico Hulkenberg is," Steiner explained on The Red Flags Podcast. "There is somebody ... it's a known quantity. He just beats him now consistently in qualifying and in the race, he did a very good job.

"I mean to keep his position, overtaking. I mean, he did just no mistake, nothing, and the car was obviously good enough to do this, but the car was not better than him. He was better than the car in my opinion. He was giving something to the team.”

The Sauber driver has also received praise from his manager and two-time champion Fernando Alonso.

"He commits few errors, always putting pressure," Alonso explained to the media after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"He’s the best rookie of this generation. If he was English, or something, and finished sixth in a Sauber, he’d be in all the news. What he does is exceptional."

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli

Bortoleto currently sits 17th in the drivers' standings with 14 points. The only other rookie drivers currently competing who are behind him are Haas's Oliver Bearman in 19th with eight points and Franco Colapinto in 20th with no points. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the highest-scoring rookie of the 2025 season so far with 64 points, putting him seventh.

“It’s my rookie season, it’s normal that you progress. At least for me, I’ve always been like this," Bortoleto explained as he reflected on his season so far.

“If you check my junior series, I’ve been a guy who has always had these types of steps in my career.

“But it’s also because I like to work, I like to study, I like to understand what I’ve been doing wrong and how to do a better job.”