Brazil’s F1 Drought Ends: Bortoleto Brings Home Crowd Hope After Eight Years
For the first time in eight years, Brazilian fans will finally have one of their own to cheer for at Interlagos in Formula 1. Gabriel Bortoleto is stepping into a role the country has desperately missed.
“He’s proving every way to be the future star that we expected him to be,” said Jonathan Wheatley at the Hungarian GP.
No Brazilian driver has held a full-time seat since 2017. The only exception came when Pietro Fittipaldi briefly replaced an injured Romain Grosjean for a few races in 2020 after that terrifying fireball crash in Bahrain.
While Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have some Brazilian connections, it’s not the same. Bortoleto will experience something that hasn’t happened since Felipe Massa’s days – the thunderous support of a home crowd at Interlagos going wild for a Brazilian driver.
## The Perfect Racing Prodigy?
Bortoleto’s rise has been nothing short of remarkable.
He’s won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in consecutive seasons – both as a rookie.
In his debut F1 year with Sauber, he’s already making waves. His best result came at the Hungarian Grand Prix where he finished an impressive sixth place.
Together with teammate Nico Hulkenberg, they’ve helped transform Sauber from last year’s backmarkers into contenders for sixth in the constructors’ championship.
Team boss Jonathan Wheatley believes the partnership between the drivers has been crucial for the team that will soon become Audi. Bortoleto, he says, is living up to every expectation they had for him.
The young Brazilian isn’t short on high-profile supporters either.
He’s developed a solid relationship with three-time world champion Max Verstappen, partly thanks to their shared love of sim racing.
“We drive a lot together in the sim and we practice a lot,” Bortoleto previously told GPblog. “I would say this is always helpful, tracks he already knows, tips he gives, about corners and things that I should be looking at. He’s always very good, the tips he gives to me.”
Even more impressive? Bortoleto is managed by Fernando Alonso‘s team. The two-time champion has become one of his biggest supporters.
“He is the best of this generation,” Alonso told GPblog over the summer. “He won Formula 3 as a rookie, he won Formula 2 as a rookie. No testing with older versions of cars, no TPC programmes, no nothing. Coming to Formula 1, still delivering an incredible job.”
Bortoleto seems destined to become a household name in F1. Could he one day become the first Brazilian since Massa to win his home Grand Prix?
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