Mattia Binotto could now make ‘surprise’ move to bring Fernando Alonso’s protege to Audi

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Sauber/Audi are one of the teams who have still yet to confirm their driver line-up for 2025. After Williams announced the arrival of Carlos Sainz at the start of the week, half the grid is now set.

Kimi Antonelli is expected to succeed Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, but there’s been no official news yet. Likewise, Jack Doohan is the favourite to partner Pierre Gasly at Alpine but there may still be some formalities to conduct.

Red Bull appeared to have ended the speculation around Sergio Perez when they gave him a new two-year deal in June. But it’s now far from certain that he’ll remain with the team for the rest of this year, let alone 2025.

And naturally, that intensifies the question marks around RB, where both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will be gunning for promotions. Liam Lawson is waiting to discover which of the two teams, if any, he’ll be representing.

Audi moved early to secure one of their top targets in Nico Hulkenberg. But if they were hoping to be swift and efficient in the market, they’ve been frustrated.

After Sainz definitively rejected them, the race is wide open again. Sauber are bottom of the constructors’ championship without a single point, but there may be confidence in a bright future with Audi.

Gabriel Bortoleto emerges as candidate to partner Nico Hulkenberg at Audi

Audi recently sacked Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffman and brought in former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto to head up their F1 project. Binotto has, in turn, recruited Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull to run the team day-to-day.

Next on the agenda for the Italian is surely the team’s driver line-up as the market enters its final stages. And, according to Formu1a.uno, he’s made a ‘surprising’ addition to the list of candidates.

Gabriel Bortoleto is now ‘a possible teammate’ for Hulkenberg after impressing in Formula 2. Bortoleto is second in the championship heading into the shutdown, 36 points behind Isack Hadjar.

The 2023 F3 champion is part of the McLaren driver academy, but Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both appear to be locked in long-term. Zak Brown may listen to offers on that basis.

Audi are ready to put a rookie in the car for 2025 – they could acclimatise in a relatively low-pressure situation before the stakes are raised in 2026. But that doesn’t mean that the incumbent Valtteri Bottas, a driver who’s even more experienced than Hulkenberg, is out of the running.

Who is Fernando Alonso protege Gabriel Bortoleto?

Bortoleto could conceivably be the fourth rookie on the 2024 grid alongside Oliver Bearman (confirmed at Haas), Antonelli (rumoured for Mercedes) and Doohan (ditto for Alpine). Starring performances in the junior categories often count for little in the F1 driver market, but he is at least in with a chance.

The 19-year-old comfortably beat Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan to claim last year’s F3 title even though he only won two out of 18 races. His haul of six podiums was key.

He earned his maiden Formula 2 victory in the Austria Feature Race at the end of June, having bagged pole for his debut in Bahrain after Kush Maini was disqualified. He also set the pace in qualifying at Imola.

The Brazilian is managed and mentored by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. Bortoleto said last year, via Motorsport Week, that Alonso played a ‘big part’ in his F3 success.