Fernando Alonso says Gabriel Bortoleto is and will be the best rookie in 2025 as he has proven it in junior stages, considering he will be in an inferior car in F1.
Bortoleto has joined the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri, to be winners of F2 and F3 championships in rookie season. In the former, he came back from a big deficit against Isack Hadjar to claim the title after he secured a F1 driver with Sauber in 2025.
He backed their faith by sealing the title despite the closeness to Hadjar. But in F1, he is to start in an inferior car against the other rookies to start their full season. Bortoleto is one of the six rookies, where others include Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Liam Lawson (Red Bull) and Hadjar (Visa Cash App RB).
They all are in a car which finished higher in 2024 season. But Aston Martin’s Alonso sees Bortoleto as the best. The Brazilian is part of Alonso’s A14 Management. The Spaniard believes that the Sauber driver has already shown what he is capable of in equal machineries.
In 2025, he won’t have a relatively strong car but he hopes that no one forgets what he is capable of. “He’s the best,” said Alonso to media. “He was, in his rookie season in F3, champion. He was, in his rookie season in F2, champion.
“I know there are a lot of talks about the young generation – a lot of rookies also next year, very talented all of them, but the best is Gabriel. He showed it on track with the same cars. Obviously next year he will maybe not have the same car as some of the rookies, but I hope people do not forget that he’s better than them. He was and he will [be].”
Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, only met Bortoleto in Abu Dhabi during the one-day test. The German did follow the Brazilian’s season and was impressed by him winning the titles in F2 and F3 in his rookie season. “You always watch F2, a little bit,” he said.
“For sure, you follow that because that’s the future coming in, and yeah, congratulations to him. To win Formula 3 as a rookie and now Formula 2 as a rookie, it’s very impressive. I think it’s been a while since someone has done that, so I think, you know, a lot of talent there. Promising driver.”
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