Who is Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know about Kick Sauber’s new recruit

Consistency across the year formed the foundations to his title-winning effort, after he began the year with consecutive Feature Race wins in Sakhir and Melbourne to establish himself out in front as championship leader.

From that point on, he never lost that early lead, missing out on points only twice across the remaining 14 races en route to the title. He mathematically secured the 2023 crown ahead of the final two races at Monza.

ANALYSIS: Why Sauber chose to go with Bortoleto and youth rather than Bottas and experience

Rookie Bortoleto leads the way in Formula 2

It earned him immediate promotion to Formula 2 with Invicta Racing for 2024, and he currently heads up the field as championship leader going into the final two rounds of the F2 season.

With two race wins and five podiums in total across 2024, Bortoleto is now aiming to join the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri in winning back-to-back titles in F3/GP3 and F2 en route to Formula 1.

Bortoleto’s impressive F3 campaign attracted attention from the F1 paddock, and he was snapped up by McLaren ahead of 2024 to join the team’s Driver Development Programme. Throughout this year, the Brazilian has spent time at Woking and carried out simulator work with the team.

However, as rumours continued to swirl in the driver market around the vacant Sauber seat, Bortoleto emerged as a serious candidate at the Swiss outfit.