Gabriel Bortoleto shares why Mattia Binotto wasn’t ‘sure’ about giving him 2025 Sauber deal

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Sauber finally announced their second driver for the 2025 season in the form of Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto.

The team are preparing for their final season under the Sauber name next year after over three decades in the pinnacle of motorsport. Based out of Hinwil, the Swiss outfit will become Audi in 2026 as a factory team providing their own power unit.

Sauber confirmed the signing of Nico Hulkenberg on a multi-year deal back in March from Haas. The German will make his return to the Swiss team having raced with the team back in 2013.

As the grid slowly began to fill, Sauber left everyone in the paddock guessing as to who would partner Hulkenberg for their Audi project when the new technical regulations come into effect in 2026.

After the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, it was finally confirmed that current drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were unable to convince Audi to keep them on board and will leave the team at the end of the season. Sauber announced Bortoleto on a multi-year deal on Wednesday, with the Brazilian joining from the McLaren academy.

The Woking-based outfit will release the 20-year-old at the end of the season, after they realised that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s long term contracts would hamper Bortoleto’s development.

Mattia Binotto was ‘not sure’ about whether he wanted an experienced or young driver at Sauber

Sauber had been linked with several drivers over the last few months. It had seemed like Bottas was the favourite to retain his seat, with the likes of Mick Schumacher, Franco Colapinto and Kevin Magnussen all mentioned in the running for the drive.

Eventually, Sauber CTO Mattia Binotto was enticed by the idea of signing a younger driver in Bortoleto to develop alongside Hulkenberg. But with the sheer amount of candidates available, the former Ferrari chief was left with a headache as to who he would decide to put in the car in 2025.

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Speaking with the F1 website after his signing was announced, Bortoleto reflected on those discussions with Binotto as the 55-year-old was ‘not sure’ about signing an experienced head or a young talent. But the Brazilian stated that the plan was always from him to join Sauber.

“[Mattia] was not sure about an experienced driver for next year or a young driver, but the plan was always to be together,” said Bortoleto. “[It was just a case of whether] it was for ‘25 or ’26,” he explained.

“I was quite easy with it. I was not too stressed, and it’s not going to change anything in my life right now, because I already knew that things should happen in the future.

“I’m just going to keep driving the same and doing my job in Formula 2 and targeting for this championship that we’re leading right now. But obviously it’s very nice to be announced and stop all the speculations and just focus on F2.”

Sauber are still yet to score a point in 2024

As the arrival of Audi fast approaches, Sauber are in desperate need of a change in fortunes on the track as they languished at the back of the field with no signs of improvement throughout the season.

Bottas and Zhou have failed to score a point after 21 Grand Prix in 2024, with the latter achieving the team’s highest finish of 11th at the season opener in Bahrain. The result is the only time Sauber have finished that high, with Bottas finished a next highest finish of 13th three times.

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This will be a huge concern for Audi, especially given that not much is expected to change in 2025, leaving Sauber with the daunting prospect of being stuck at the back of the grid again next year.

It will also make what is already going to be difficult season for Bortoleto even more challenging as he will be thrusted into underperforming machinery. But with a good role model in Hulkenberg as his teammate and with experienced personnel in the team, the Brazilian will certainly learn a lot in his rookie season before becoming an Audi driver in 2026.