Gabriel Bortoleto will become the fourth full-time rookie on the Formula One grid next season after completing Sauber’s line-up for 2025.
Sauber announced on Wednesday that Bortoleto, 20, will race for the team alongside Nico Hulkenberg next season as its existing drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, leave after three years.
Bortoleto will become the first Brazilian to race full-time in F1 since Felipe Massa in 2017. The McLaren junior is the reigning Formula Three champion and currently leads the Formula Two standings in his rookie season with two rounds remaining.
Over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, it emerged that talks between Bortoleto and Sauber had been nearing a positive conclusion, with McLaren F1 chief Andrea Stella confirming the team would not stand in his way of a full-time drive from 2025.
Bortoleto will join fellow full-season rookies Oliver Bearman (Haas), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Jack Doohan (Alpine) on the grid for 2025 in the biggest upheaval of the F1 field for some time.
“This is one of the most exciting projects in motorsport, if not in all of sports,” Bortoleto said in a statement. “Joining a team that combines the rich motorsport history of Sauber and Audi is a true honor. Beyond simply being a member, I aim to grow with this ambitious project and reach the pinnacle of motorsport.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity given to me by the team and for the chance to work alongside an experienced driver like Nico. Both programs have a proven track record of nurturing young talent, and I am confident that together, we will write our own success story.”
Sauber’s all-new line-up for 2025 is part of a number of major changes taking place at Hinwil ahead of its evolution into Audi’s F1 team from 2026.
Bortoleto will become the first Brazilian to race full-time in F1 since Felipe Massa in 2017 (Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
“We are currently witnessing a generational shift in Formula One, with young drivers immediately making an impact,” said Gernot Dollner, the chairman of the board at Sauber Motorsport.
“By signing Gabriel Bortoleto, we have secured one of these top talents. His signing underscores Audi’s long-term strategy and commitment to Formula One.”
Bottas, a 10-time grand prix winner with Mercedes, was leading the chase to stay with Sauber for a fourth year over the summer, only for talks to stall in recent months.
Amid a change in the senior management at Sauber, with ex-Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto taking over from Andreas Seidl in August, the team’s attention turned toward Bortoleto as it favored youth to partner the experienced Hulkenberg from next year.
The decision is likely to leave both Bottas and Zhou without an F1 race drive for next year. The final remaining seat outside of Sauber is at RB, Red Bull’s junior team.
Binotto expressed his “deepest gratitude” to Bottas for his efforts at the team since joining in 2022, and said that while he was a “key candidate” to keep the seat, “we mutually concluded that final conditions could not be met so we agreed that it is time to part ways.”
“A situation like this is never easy for anyone,” Bottas said in a statement. “But after all the good and in-depth discussions we had in the past weeks, we realized that the conditions to grow this project together were not met.
“These past years with the team have been an incredible journey, full of growth, challenges, and unforgettable moments.”
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Bottas recently revealed that he would be open to returning to Mercedes, where he raced between 2017 and 2021, in a reserve driver role for 2025.
Zhou, who became China’s first full-time F1 driver when he joined the grid in 2022, thanked Sauber for its support. Binotto said that talks had led to them agreeing that “our future lies in different places” from 2025.
“This is not an easy sport for rookies, but the team has allowed me to grow so much over these three years,” Zhou said. “China, earlier this season, was without doubt a highlight, but so many moments, both in public and behind the scenes, are what I am going to remember from the last three years.
“I’ll now focus on the next step in my career. I still have plenty of fight left in me and I am keen to continue progressing.”
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(James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
