New-for-2025 Sauber Method 1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto has revealed he has “all the time admired” Max Verstappen and his driving type, inserting the Dutchman alongside Ayrton Senna as his inspiration in racing.
Bortoleto, who leads the F2 championship standings heading into the ultimate two rounds of the season, was introduced final week as Sauber’s second new recruit alongside Nico Hulkenberg within the crew’s last marketing campaign earlier than the transition into Audi’s works outfit.
The Brazilian has subsequently left McLaren’s improvement programme to pursue the chance, having impressed in his rookie F2 season after clinching the F3 title in 2023.
Requested by the F1 Nation podcast which of the drivers he admired – apart from Fernando Alonso, who acts as Bortoleto’s supervisor – the Brazilian replied: “From these days, I actually like how Max drives, within the sense of… I actually admire his quali laps and the way a lot he extracts of the automobile in these laps, the way in which he drives and races.
“Clearly it may be very arduous,” he added, acknowledging latest on-track controversies after Verstappen was penalised for driving requirements on the Mexico Grand Prix.
Race winner Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil and Invicta Racing (10) celebrates on the rostrum
Photograph by: James Sutton / Motorsport Pictures
“We’ve seen within the final races, however clearly they’re preventing for a world championship, so all of us count on them to race one another like that.”
Explaining a connection to Verstappen, Bortoleto defined: “I’ve all the time admired how Max drives – since I used to be very younger, as a result of I used to be a part of a crew in go-karts that he grew up with, in order that they all the time instructed me tales about him, and I used to be all the time like, ‘OK, what would Max do on this scenario?’
“I needed all the time to be a bit like him, as a result of he gained each single factor he did in junior collection.”
Returning to his nationwide hero, Bortoleto insisted: “Clearly, my largest hero is Ayrton Senna, for the motive force he was, for all the pieces he did on observe, but in addition exterior of the observe, I feel he was an important individual with nice morals, and the legacy he left behind, and all the pieces he did for Brazil, I feel that is one thing I’m impressed by.”
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