Sauber faced a fork in the road.
Down one path? A veteran presence, experience driving at the highest levels of single-seater motorsport, with a driver with an impressive resume complete with Formula 1 Grand Prix wins, and contributions to a championship team.
On the other? Promise, potential, and a view toward the future.
Ultimately, Sauber chose that latter path.
Earlier today Sauber announced that Gabriel Borotleto will slide into the team’s second seat alongside Nico Hülkenberg for the 2025 season, on a “multi-year” deal that will see Hulkenberg and Bortoleto their driver pairing in 2026 when Sauber becomes the Audi works operation. That year will not only usher in a new era of F1 with Audi joining the grid, but also a new set of technical regulations that will overhaul the sport itself.
Why did Sauber choose that latter path? It might give the team the best of both worlds. With Hülkenberg Sauber has an experienced driver who can offer the technical feedback that will be critical to the team’s development over 2025, and into the first year of the new regulations that arrive, along with Audi, in 2026.
Signing Bottas for that second seat would have given Sauber a pair of veterans, and with Bottas’ pedigree given his time with Mercedes, the experience of driving at the highest competitive levels of the sport.
But what Bottas might not offer at this point in his career Bortoleto does: A stunningly bright future.
While he is just 20 years old — having turned 20 last month —Bortoleto is already a champion in his own right. He captured the F3 Drivers’ Championship a season ago, finishing 45 points ahead of second-place finisher Zak O’Sullivan, and 54 points ahead of Franco Colapinto, who emerged as another potential option for Sauber given his strong performance thus far for Williams since replacing Logan Sargeant mid-season.
He also leads the F2 Championship by a slim margin over Isack Hadjar with just two race weekends remaining. Should Bortoleto win the F2 Drivers’ title this season, a year after winning the F3 Championship, he would join George Russell and Charles Leclerc as the only drivers to win those two titles in succession on their first attempts.
That is rather lofty company.
Bortoleto also had an advantage over Colapinto, which is a bit of freedom. As a member of the McLaren Driver Development Program, Bortoleto has a bit of a roadblock in place with the Woking-based operation. With both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris signed to long-term contracts, a seat at McLaren is likely not coming Bortoleto’s way anytime soon.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown told the media, including SB Nation, that McLaren would be open to helping Bortoleto find a seat on the grid ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
“Yeah, he’s a great racing driver. Right now, our priority is to help them win the Formula 2 championship. So that’s what we’re very much focused on. We don’t have an open seat. We’re very happy, obviously, with our two Grand Prix drivers, and we would never want to hold a racing driver back in Grand Prix, in his career,” said Brown last month in Austin. “So we’ll kind of see how things play out, but focused on winning the championship and focused on not holding him back if we can’t provide him with an opportunity in Formula 1, which looks unlikely at this time.”
Colapinto is a member of the Williams family, and while they have signed both Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alexander Albon to deals, Williams reportedly was only willing to let Colapinto driver for another team on a loan deal, with the option to recall him back to Williams if needed. Williams has a long-term deal with Colapinto, and his performance so far since replacing Logan Sargeant is a sign he might be able to handle life on the F1 grid sooner rather than later.
That opened the door for Bortoleto to reach a deal with Sauber.
Hülkenberg gives Sauber the experienced driver who can both mentor Bortoleto and give the technical team the full feedback picture as they develop their 2025 challenger, while helping the team plan their 2026 challenger when Audi arrives on the grid, and the new technical regulations reshape the sport.
Bortoleto gives Sauber an emerging talent who can shape their racing team for years to come.
Giving the team the best of both worlds.
