Bortoleto: Going from frontrunner to F1 backmarker not easy

Bortoleto's sensational form in Formula 2 led many to tip him as an F1 star of the future. Yet, since his promotion to KICK Sauber at the beginning of the year, the youngster has really struggled to make an impact, getting nowhere near the points in the first five races.

Though teammate Nico Hulkenberg managed to clinch seventh in Australia, this was largely due to a weather-affected race. Neither Hulkenberg nor Bortoleto has since had the pace necessary to compete for points, and this kind of thing could put a damper on a rookie’s season.

But Bortoleto is choosing to see the positive side. While the 20-year-old says “it’s not easy” at the moment, the likes of George Russell have shown how things can turn with the right attitude.

Bortoleto said: “There's always going to be someone paying this price at the beginning. If you see George Russell at the beginning of his Formula 1 career, I don't think he scored a point in his first season, or something like this.

“And now he's one of the best drivers on the grid and doing such a great job, I wouldn’t say fighting for the championship right now, but he's constantly on the podium or fighting for things. So it's all about having patience.

“There's not much I can do right now—just learn, try to grow as a driver in these tough moments, and do a better job every race weekend. Get better, because I'm not fighting for points right now—that's the realistic situation. Not me, not Nico [Hulkenberg].”

Bortoleto entered F1 amid a huge amount of hype for a reason. Last year, he became only the fourth driver after Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri to win F3 and F2 back-to-back.

But things weren’t always that rosy for the Brazilian. Back in 2022, it was looking like Bortoleto was going to miss out on a seat in F3. It was just him and his father; they didn’t have the backing required to progress until they met with Fernando Alonso, who set him up in FRECA.

It was there that Bortoleto really started to shine, picking up his first row and podium. Off the back of his form in this F3-level series, he earned a seat at Trident, and the rest is history.

After an impressively consistent F3 season, where he racked up points in 15 of 18 races, as well as two wins, six podiums, and a driver’s title, Bortoleto hit the ground running in F2. He secured pole in his first race for Invicta in Bahrain, and from there he never looked back.

Following his first feature race win in Austria, Bortoleto then put in one of the all-time great F2 performances, going from last to first in Monza. P4 in Baku later took the youngster to the top of the standings, and he ended up pipping Isack Hadjar to the title at Yas Marina. That’s why he’s still being tipped as a hot prospect, despite a difficult start to his F1 career.

With KICK Sauber set to morph into Audi in 2026, his team will no doubt be focusing on next year’s car rather than developing the C45. But Bortoleto has plenty of reasons for optimism as he battles to get a handle on a notoriously tricky-to-tame race car.

First of all, the Brazilian has effectively managed to land a multi-year deal at Audi, who will surely be one of the stories of next season. With one of the world’s leading auto manufacturers behind him, he’ll surely be able to have a better crack at competing in F1.

Last year also showed how quickly things can change. At the start of the season, KICK Sauber couldn’t even remove a wheel nut properly. But they did pick up the pace, ending their pointless run in Qatar. With the right mindset, Bortoleto says they can also turn around 2025.

“What we need to do now is try to point the team in the right direction with the development of the car,” Bortoleto added.

“We saw last year with Sauber as well—they were last through the whole year basically, and I think with one or two upgrades they brought, they were back to fighting for Q3. So in this world I've learned something: everything can happen. So we cannot give up.”

Bortoleto and KICK Sauber will be looking to take a step towards the midfield at the Miami Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend from 2-4 May, 2025. (Quotes from Formula1.com)