Entire country now ‘desperately’ pushing for ‘hero’ driver to receive 2025 Formula 1 seat

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With a third of the season to go, there are three seats remaining on the 2025 F1 grid. Mercedes were the most recent team to fill a vacancy as they confirmed at the Italian GP that Kimi Antonelli would partner George Russell.

But world champions Red Bull still haven’t clarified whether they will honour Sergio Perez’s contract. Perez signed a new one-plus-one deal in June but his spiralling form forced the team to consider ripping up that contract.

Perez has found a degree of stability since the summer break with a run of four consecutive top-eight finishes, his longest since the spring (Japan to Imola). While still far from impressive, that may be enough to keep him on the grid for the remainder of the season.

2025 is another matter entirely, and Perez’s future will have direct ramifications at junior team RB. If he stays, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson are duelling for the seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda, but if he leaves, one of them could partner Max Verstappen.

F2 championship leader and Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar is in the picture too. Over at Audi, newly-installed boss Mattia Binotto has been assessing a variety of options to team up with Nico Hulkenberg.

The incumbent Valtteri Bottas is fighting to hang onto his seat. He faces competition from a horde of exciting young drivers as Binotto weighs up whether to take a risk.

Brazil wants Franco Colapinto to join 2025 F1 grid with Audi

One strong contender for Audi is Gabriel Bortoleto, Hadjar’s rival in the F2 championship. According to French outlet AutoHebdo, the ‘entire country’ of Brazil is ‘pushing’ for him to receive the seat.

They ‘desperately’ want him to become the country’s first F1 driver since Felipe Massa, who retired at the end of 2017. Former Ferrari and Williams driver Massa won 11 races and scored 41 podiums in his career and came within one corner of winning the world championship on home soil in 2008.

Brazilian F1 fans have just seen rivals Argentina return to the fold with Franco Colapinto. The Williams youngster has replaced Logan Sargeant until the end of the season but he’s only a placeholder for Carlos Sainz.

Still, that has intensified the determination of Bortoleto’s sponsors. The nation that has given F1 legends like Ayrton Senna, Emmerson Fittipaldi and Nelson Piquet feels as if it needs a new representative.

McLaren see ‘hero’ Gabriel Bortoleto as long-term replacement for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Bortoleto, 19, scored his second victory and fifth podium of the season in the Monza Feature Race last time out. It was a potentially career-defining performance as he rallied from 22nd and last to win.

Racing driver Clement Novalak dubbed him a ‘hero’ on Instagram. His compatriot Sergio Sette Camara called him an ‘animal’, while manager Fernando Alonso also expressed his admiration.

It’s emerged this week that McLaren could loan Bortoleto to Audi for two years. The Woking outfit control his destiny because he’s part of their driver programme.

After that, they want him back in case they need to replace either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri. Clearly, they believe he has immense potential after seeing him win the F3 title last year.