McLaren now told they have a 19-year-old academy talent who is seriously ‘special’

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Trident team principal Giacomo Ricci has told McLaren that they have a special talent in their academy in the form of Brazilian teenager Gabriel Bortoleto.

McLaren have two of the finest young drivers on the grid in the form of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

However, speaking to Autosport, Ricci was raving about Gabriel Bortoleto after a phenomenal first season in Formula 3.

The Formula 1 grid is an interesting place right now, with several young stars among plenty of veterans.

The majority of the grid are reaching the end of their contracts and that could force a big reshuffle of drivers between the teams.

Therefore, several youngsters sitting on the sidelines or competing in Formula 2 will be gunning for a race seat in 2025.

Teams are keener than ever to promote from within and driver academies are now hoovering up the best talent.

McLaren moved last year to sign Gabriel Bortoleto and it’s already looking like a great decision to sign the special talent.

They relied on Fernando Alonso to help in negotiations and he’s already learning a lot from working with Lando Norris.

Now, the challenge is to compete in one of the strongest F2 grids we’ve seen in some time.

McLaren told Bortoleto is a special talent

Speaking about the 19-year-old Brazilian, Ricci said: “I’ll be honest, we chose him because we knew there was a talent there.

“Then, from someone who is talented – there are lots of talented drivers in F3, the level like in F2 is outstanding – but from you believe is talented to the fact they will fight in his first rookie season, dominating also for me the championship, this is a big step.

“Also, naturally, he was not making mistakes. For him, it has been always easy to put the three sectors together.

“Even if it was green, green, green, not purple, not going for P1, it was easy for him to go to a very strong level by putting the three sectors together. That for me was a big plus.

“Since I saw this, from the 2022 post-season test, I started to become very optimistic.

“It’s one thing to say we’re going to fight for the top five, and one thing to start the season so strong and to be so competitive and of course, winning the championship.

“Did I expect to win with Gabriel Bortoleto before signing him, I would say no, but after the first three days of post-season testing, at that time, I became really optimistic that we had someone in the car with all the ability to fight in his rookie season for the title.

“I was expecting him to fight for the top five positions in the championship, but at the same time, I have to say, that immediately in the post-season test in 2022, I saw someone that he was special.

“We have all the references with the drivers from the past, and he in some corners was faster immediately.”

Bortoleto will have to be patient to get his chance

It’s unlikely that Bortoleto will be challenging for the title in F2 in 2024 as it’s his first season at this level.

More experienced drivers like Oliver Bearman and Victor Martins are going to be tough for Bortoleto to beat.

However, with Piastri and Norris already signed up until the end of 2026 and 2025 respectively, Bortoleto will be in no rush to get out of F2.

He would have seen Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire win the series and then be forced to watch on with opportunities on the F1 grid limited.

McLaren will be delighted with Bortoleto’s progress so far, and he was a level above the rest of the F3 roster in 2023 as he put together a special campaign to win the title.

As Ricci says, a top-five finish in 2024 would be extraordinary and really make Zak Brown and Andrea Stella sit up and take notice.

Brazilian F1 fans have been waiting for years to cheer on one of their own on the grid, could Bortoleto be that man one day?