Fernando Alonso’s legacy goes beyond his titles, victories, numbers and exploits on the track. It is also about the training of future young pilots. Fernando Alonso’s representation agency, A14 Management, has several diamonds in the rough who aspire to reach Formula 1 in the future and who are part of the F1 teams’ important young talent programs.
For example, there is Pepe Martí (19 years old), who this year made his Formula 2 debut as a Red Bull junior driver, or Nikola Tsolov, a 17-year-old Formula 3 driver active in the Alpine academy. But the one that seems closest to the ‘Great Circus’ promotion is the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto.
The driver from Sao Paulo, 19 years old (October 14, 2004), has already shone in 2023, declaring himself champion of Formula 3 in his first year in the bronze class of the natural ladder in F1, which earned him of entering the talent development program of none other than McLaren.
And this course, In his Formula 2 debut, he impressed with his performance and spectacular comebacklike Monza weeks ago, where he achieved his second victory on the course despite starting last on the grid. His great perseverance and quality allowed him to face the last two events of the competition leading the FIA F2 overall, with 169.5 points, with only 0.5 ahead of the Red Bull academy driver, Hadjar, and with more than 30 compared to Maloney or Aron, among others.
Fighting for a place at Sauber in 2025
For this reason, he got the interest of the F1 team in his hands. This is the case of Sauber (which will become Audi in 2026). The Brazilian driver has been rumored for several weeks to join Nico Hülkenberg in 2025 in F1 at the wheel of one of the Swiss cars, before the structure becomes Audi in 2026.
however, Bortoleto is not the only candidate. The possible renewal of Valtteri Bottas, the increase of Pouchaire or the possibility of Williams giving in Franco Colapintoas already recognized by the Team Principal of the English team, making sure that it accepts making this possibility a reality in order not to interrupt the progress of a Colapinto who fights in the last 9 rounds of this year in F1 replacing Sergeant.
In this sense, since Bortoleto is a driver in the McLaren program and the orange team has two current and future drivers such as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, Bortoleto’s options to advance to F1 depend on other drivers and to do this McLaren needed to agree. And the Team Principal himself acknowledged in statements reported by ‘Motorsport.com’ that it is working to facilitate that option with Sauber.
“If Binotto (Sauber’s chief operating officer) came to talk to me… when you have talent like that, you certainly won’t stop me from getting a chance in Formula 1,” Stella declared.
“At the same time, we will definitely be interested in finding a way to keep him in the McLaren family, because I think he is a talent that in the future could be important for McLaren. We are confident in the long term with the two of us drivers. We couldn’t be happier. But I’m sure we’ll find a solution.”Andrea added about Bortoleto, highlighting his quality behind the wheel and his humility as a person and athlete.
“And when you combine talent with hard work and those kinds of values and attitudes, I think that’s where you can develop as a driver. And Gabriel is another example of rapid growth.”added Stella about the young talent represented by Fernando Alonso’s agency, which is curious to be able to fight for a seat at Sauber with a driver who won the Spanish F4 with Alonso’s team like Franco Colapinto.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
