Gabriel Bortoleto is on the rise in motorsport as he embarks on his debut season in Formula 2.
The Brazilian talent comes into Formula 2 off the back of winning the Formula 3 championship at the first attempt in 2023, claiming two victories and six podiums on the way to title success.
At 19 years old, Bortoleto still has many lessons to learn not only on the race track but also off of it, working with his team and being professional and mature about it.
And speaking with the F2 website, the Brazilian sat down to discuss what he has learned already from his more experienced teammate.
Gabriel Bortoleto has admitted he is still learning not to make ‘jokes’ in serious moments
For his first season in F2, Bortoleto is partnered alongside Kush Maini at the Attleborough-based outfit Invicta Racing.
Maini had a solid junior career in Formula 4 and British Formula 3, finishing third in the latter in 2018 and going one better with second two years later.
For 2021, the Indian driver competed in the F3 Asian Championship and made a one-off appearance in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship.
Maini finished 14th in Formula 3 in 2022 before moving up to F2 last season with Campos Racing, achieving one podium and finishing 11th in the standings.
With Maini moving to Invicta along with Bortoleto for this season, the two shared what they have learned from one another across the year.
When asked what he has learned from Maini, Bortoleto said: “Hmm. I think professionalism.”
The Indian driver followed this up with: “I think Gabi is much older than his age, very mature, very collected and calm. I haven’t seen that in many teammates in the past so that helps within the team. Also keeps that professional environment for us both to push more. That’s how it is, bad session or good session, he’s very composed.”
Bortoleto then admitted that he is still learning maturity in his young age and Maini is a good model to take notes from.
“Yeah, I think it’s the same for me,” he said. “Kush is very professional in the sense of he knows when it’s time to joke and when it’s not. I’m a young guy still and sometimes you want to make a joke or something but it’s time to work. I think Kush is very good at knowing how to read that at any time, so I’m still learning this! Not fully there yet.”
Gabriel Bortoleto is in the hunt for the Formula 2 title
Despite it being only his rookie season, Bortoleto has taken Formula 2 by storm and currently finds himself in the running for the title.
The Brazilian is sat in second place in the standings with 129 points and has registered one victory this season at Spielberg, as well as four podiums overall.
Bortoleto is sat 36 points behind championship leader Isack Hadjar, who has won more races than any other driver with four.
Bortoleto’s Invicta teammate Maini also has a win to name – coming in the sprint race in Hungary – and sits ninth in the standings.