Fernando Alonso recalls his brief fight with Gabriel Bortoleto as replica of what they do in go-karts and simulator, as he highlights Aston Martin’s step.
It is not often that manager and his client compete together at the same time in the same grid. Aston Martin’s Alonso does so against Sauber’s Bortoleto. They haven’t had a go each other as much in the first 12 races of 2025 F1 season apart from the one in Austria at Red Bull Ring.
Bortoleto was catching the cars ahead after his second stop, while Alonso was ahead on worn tyres, battling Liam Lawson. The moment when the Brazilian caught them, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were in their own battle for the lead – lapping the cars just outside the Top 5.
It was not good for Norris to catch the slower cars at that moment, but for Alonso, it worked in his favour. It was difficult for him to hold onto the DRS of Lawson, but with Norris and Piastri around him, he managed to retain some of it and also have blue flags to his aide.
Eventually Alonso kept Bortoleto at bay, which was the Brazilian’s first points in F1. The Spaniard, naturally, hailed their mini battle as he noted it to be a replica of what they have had when training together in the go-karts and or in simulator.
“It was good, I was lucky there with the blue flags,” recalled Alonso. “I think without the blue flags I had no chance to keep him behind for another two or three corners, that was my maximum life available there. And then with the blue flags, I gained that extra half a lap, it was the final lap of the race and we saw the chequered flag. So, it was a good combination for me.
“But yeah, the fight was good. A couple of corners side by side, always with respect. And yeah, we drove a couple of times already like that in go-karts and in simulator when we do sessions together and things like that. So it was a replica of that. And this time I crossed the line first. So that gives me some satisfaction.
“[It has been] very good [from him], but no surprises at all. Last year in Abu Dhabi, I think that he is the best of this generation. He won the Formula 3 as a rookie. He won the Formula 2 as a rookie. No testing with older version of cars. No TPC programmes, no nothing, coming to Formula 1, still delivering an incredible job. Some of them have better packages and things like that.
“Maybe some of them will achieve success before he does. But eventually, over the long term, he will always come as the best of this generation. Proof when the cars were all the same in the previous categories and now, even with a team that was struggling last year, I think between him and Nico, they managed to bring new motivation. And the team is also improving.
“So far, it’s an incredible job what he’s doing. But he’s still behind me,” summed up Alonso, who has made his own step after the updates from Aston Martin in Imola. He did not start well but has since scored handy points, even though Lance Stroll is still in front of him in the drivers’ standings.
The team brought another set of updates in Silverstone, which has seemingly worked. In fact, Alonso states the initial update in Imola worked better than what they saw on the windtunnel. “Honestly, it’s [the Silverstone package] less than the Imola package,” he continued. “It’s a very minor tweak on the floor and nothing really too obvious.
“You will even not notice because it’s well underneath the car and it’s minor. So, yeah, obviously everything that we bring is welcome and we will try to exploit the package at its best. Imola also was not that big and it seems that it worked a little bit better than the numbers on the wind tunnel said. But I think it’s less than what we brought to Imola,” summed up Alonso.
Here’s Gabriel Bortoleto on handling Brazilian fans
Here’s Jonathan Wheatley on Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
Here’s Aston Martin in Pirelli test
