Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto will become the fifth new full time face on the Formula 1 grid in 2025 after it was announced he’d join the Audi team.
Bortoleto joins Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli and Jack Doohan as new full time drivers with rumours still swirling around names like Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto as a new generation starts to shape the F1 grid.
This morning Sauber - soon to be Audi - announced that both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu would depart, have already announced that one of their 2025 seat would be occupied by in form Nico Hulkenberg. Bottas is expected to rejoin Mercedes as reserve, while Zhou has had nothing mentioned about potential 2025 plans.
📸 It’s widely reported Bottas will return to the Mercedes family as reserve driver for 2025.
Bortoleto joins hot on the heels of incredible form, winning the 2023 FIA Formula 3 title, and now leads the Formula 2 standings in what has been a remarkable rookie season. If he was to win the title, he’d be just the fourth driver to win F3 and F2 back to back, following Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri - elite company indeed. Mick Schumacher, once linked with Audi seat also won both, although not consecutively.
📸 Piastri was the last back to back F3 and F2 champion, can Bortoleto repeat the trick?
He leaves the McLaren setup which he joined after his F3 triumph, with his path to a seat their somewhat blocked by the in form driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
📸 Norris and Piastri, two of the top stars of F1.
Bortoleto becomes the first full time Brazilian on the grid since Felipe Massa left Williams at the end of 2017, with Pietro Fittipaldi racing twice for Haas in 2020 the only driver to do so in that time.
📸 Not since 2017 has a Brazilian been an F1 full timer.
📸 Image credits: Formula Motorsport Limited, Sky Sports.
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