Gabriel Bortoleto has had a steady if not spectacular start to his Formula 1 career for Sauber, but can take inspiration from another driver who endured ‘paying this price’.
The 20-year-old entered the 2025 season as, arguably, the rookie starting their career in the pinnacle of motorsport in the worst position. Sauber endured a hugely disappointing season in 2024 to come last in the F1 constructors’ championship, with a mere four points all term.
Zhou Guanyu also recorded all four of Sauber’s points for the 2024 F1 season in round 23 of the record-setting 24 held. So, Audi elected to bring in an entirely new driver line-up to help shape Sauber ahead of taking them over in 2026, with Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg hired.
Audi gave Bortoleto a two-year £1.5m contract to join Sauber, and to leave McLaren’s driver academy before the Brazilian won the 2024 Formula 2 title. He even secured the crown as a rookie to build on Bortoleto lifting the 2023 Formula 3 title during his first year in the series.
Gabriel Bortoleto thinks George Russell is ‘one of the best’ drivers on the 2025 F1 grid
Scoring points would now almost be like winning a championship for Bortoleto at Sauber. He is yet to get a top-10 finish for the Hinwil, Switzerland natives, with his best result so far P14 in the Chinese Grand Prix. He also came 18th in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia plus 19th in Japan.
Bortoleto has impressed against Hulkenberg in qualifying, though, as the Osasco, Sao Paulo native led Sauber’s efforts on debut in Australia and for the F1 Sprint in China. He is also not wasting his time racing at the back as George Russell showed the benefits whilst at Williams.
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Russell debuted with Williams in 2019, but did not score his first points as a Formula 1 driver until his 37th start when he took P9 while standing in for Mercedes in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Yet Bortoleto thinks Russell is now ‘one of the best’ drivers on the 2025 Formula 1 grid.
“There’s always going to be someone paying this price at the beginning,” Bortoleto said, via the official F1 website. “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.”
George Russell took 48 Grand Prix to score his first points for Williams, but is now F1’s most consistent driver in 2025
It took Russell 48 races for Williams to score his first points with the Grove squad, excluding the Briton’s cameo for Mercedes in Bahrain when Lewis Hamilton was sidelined with Covid. He also followed that up with a maiden podium, yet that came due to his superb qualifying.
Russell took P8 in the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix before handing Williams P2 in the one-lap Belgian GP, having qualified on the front row for the heavily race-affected event. He is now a three-time Grand Prix winner and boasts 18 career podiums after joining Mercedes in 2022.
Additionally, Russell is the only 2025 F1 driver to finish every competitive session in the top five to start the campaign. He also ranks fourth in the drivers’ standings with 73 points – just 26 points from first place – thanks to his P3 results in Australia and China plus P2 in Bahrain.
READ MORE: Who is 2025 Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know
| CAREER HEAD-TO-HEAD | GEORGE RUSSELL | GABRIEL BORTOLETO | |
| GP3 Series / Formula 3 | Races | 15 | 18 |
| Wins | 4 | 2 | |
| Poles | 4 | 1 | |
| Podiums | 7 | 6 | |
| Points | 220 | 164 | |
| Formula 2 | Races | 24 | 28 |
| Wins | 7 | 2 | |
| Poles | 5 | 2 | |
| Podiums | 11 | 8 | |
| Points | 287 | 214.5 | |
| Formula 1 (first five Grands Prix) | Results | P16, P15, P16, P15, P17 | DNF, P14, P19, P18, P18 |
So, Bortoleto is eager to replicate how Russell used his three seasons at the back of the grid at Williams to hone his trade after winning the 2017 GP3 and 2018 F2 titles as a rookie – like the Brazilian did in F3 and F2 in 2023 and 2024. GP3 essentially rebranded as F3 from 2018.
His view on how to utilise the situation facing the Brazilian at Sauber this season is also one shared by a two-time F1 champion. Emerson Fittipaldi thinks Bortoleto is ‘learning’ whilst at the back with Sauber even if the team are in a ‘difficult’ place before Audi’s takes them over.
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