McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says the team won’t stand in protege Gabriel Bortoleto’s way if Sauber wants to offer him a Formula 1 race seat, but would rather sanction a loan move than let the youngster go definitively.
Bortoleto recently emerged as one of the main contenders to partner Nico Hulkenberg at the future Audi team, alongside incumbent Valtteri Bottas and reserve driver Theo Pourchaire, while Franco Colapinto also cannot be ruled out after the Argentine’s impressive outing at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend.
After having moderate success at Formula 4 and Formula Regional levels, Bortoleto has been making a strong case for himself by winning the Formula 3 championship as a rookie last year and taking the lead of the Formula 2 standings in Baku – again as a debutant.
With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both enjoying long-term contracts with McLaren, there should be no vacancy at the Woking-based team until 2027 at the earliest. As a consequence, Stella is open to talks about Bortoleto’s future.
“If [Sauber chief operating officer Mattia] Binotto came to me… when you have such a talent, definitely you're not going to stop him having a chance in Formula 1,” the Italian insisted.
“At the same time, we will be definitely interested in finding a way to keep him in the McLaren family, because I think he's a talent that in the future could be important for McLaren.
“We are safe for the long term with our two drivers. We couldn't be any happier. But definitely, we would like to keep him in the McLaren family. But I'm sure we could find a solution.”
Stella has been impressed not only with his junior driver’s performance and consistency – the 19-year-old Brazilian having finished 17 of the latest 18 F2 races in the top 10 – but also with his attitude.
“I tell Gabriel the same thing I tell the team: don't look at the classification, just think about the chequered flag all the time and race one race at a time, with the feet on the ground,” he explains. “And he has it.
“For me, similar to Oscar, it's not only the ability and the execution when he is in the car. From a driving point of view, he's also – you know how humble these guys are, how available they are to just get the learning working with the team. At no point they are arrogant.
“And when you combine talent with hard work and this kind of values and attitude, I think it's where you can grow as a driver. And Gabriel is another example of growing so rapidly.
“If we think of the start of his F2 campaign, he had some hiccups at times – not necessarily only due to his driving, he had some car problems – but he didn't give up. He stayed on the case, and now he is building step by step.”
Bortoleto has scored 169.5 points so far this F2 season while his main rivals Isack Hadjar, Zane Maloney and Paul Aron have accrued 165, 135 and 133 on their tallies respectively, with four races yet to take place across the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds.
Further down the order, Jak Crawford, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Victor Martins remain in mathematical contention for the title.
