Sauber F1 Team's New Driver Gives Formula 1 Four Rookies on 2025 Grid

• Bortoleto will join Nico Hulkenberg as the team opts for a mixture of youth and experience, and ends long-running speculation over its driver decision.

• Sauber’s hire of Bortoleto means that a fifth of Formula 1’s grid in 2025 will be rookies.

• Bortoleto’s hire effectively means it is the end of the road for current pairing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Gabriel Bortoleto will make the step up to Formula 1 in 2025, completing Sauber’s driver lineup.

Bortoleto will join Nico Hulkenberg at the outfit, which will become Audi’s works team in 2026, when the German automobile giant officially joins Formula 1.

It will mark a revised driver pairing for Sauber as the team opts for a mixture of youth and experience, and ends long-running speculation over its driver decision.

“This is one of the most exciting projects in motorsport, if not in all of sports,” Bortoleto said. “Joining a team that combines the rich motorsport history of Sauber and Audi is a true honor.

“Beyond simply being a member, I aim to grow with this ambitious project and reach the pinnacle of motorsport. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity given to me by the team and for the chance to work alongside an experienced driver like Nico.”

Sauber chairman Gernot Dollner pointed towards Formula 1’s recent shift towards youth as a reason for recruiting Bortoleto.

“We are currently witnessing a generational shift in Formula 1, with young drivers immediately making an impact,” Dollner said. “By signing Gabriel, we have secured one of these top talents. His signing underscores Audi's long-term strategy and commitment to Formula 1.”

Sauber’s chief operating officer Mattia Binotto, who took over the project in the summer, added that Hulkenberg and Bortoleto “represent the ideal combination of experience and youth, positioning us strongly for the future.”

Slow Start, Then Progress

Bortoleto had a solid if unspectacular start to his junior career, occasionally battling for wins, but winding up in the midfield in Italian Formula 4 and Formula Regional.

His first three seasons in single-seaters did not scream Formula 1 potential in the manner of some young hotshots, but Bortoleto captured the attention last year in FIA Formula 3.

Bortoleto won two races early in the season and managed a points lead with a series of consistently mature drives to win that year’s title.

That came in his first full year under the tutelage of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management scheme, with the Aston Martin veteran offering advice and guidance to the youngster, and after winning the Formula 3 crown Bortoleto joined McLaren’s young driver program.

Bortoleto stepped up to Formula 2 this year with Invicta Racing and claimed pole position on his debut; after a handful of early season setbacks Bortoleto emerged as a regular front-runner and claimed wins in Austria and Italy.

Ahead of the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi—alongside Formula 1’s final events—Bortoleto holds a slender points advantage over Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar.

If he wraps up the crown he would join a select group of drivers to secure back-to-back titles in the secondary and tertiary categories, such as Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri.

Bortoleto has been present at select Grands Prix with McLaren, and has had running in old-spec machinery, but the team reiterated that it would not stand in his way if a race seat was offered elsewhere, given its long-term commitment to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Brazil Returns to the Grid

Sauber’s hire of Bortoleto means that a fifth of Formula 1’s grid in 2025 will be full-time rookies, as he joins Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Haas’ Ollie Bearman—who has contested three grands prix this year as a stand-in—and Alpine’s Jack Doohan on the list of newbies.

That would be the highest number of full-time rookies at the start of the season since 2013. RB has yet to confirm its driver line-up, with Liam Lawson in contention to contest his first full season after his brief campaigns in 2023 and 2024, though his services could yet be required at Red Bull Racing owing to Checo Perez’s struggles. Williams’ Franco Colapinto, another part-time 2024 driver, is also in contention at RB.

It is a big shift towards youth after a stagnant driver market in recent seasons.

Bortoleto’s promotion also restores Brazil to the Formula 1 grid after a prolonged absence.

Only the UK and Germany has produced drivers with more world titles and race wins than Brazil, but the country has been without full-time representation since Felipe Massa’s retirement in 2017.

Pietro Fittipaldi started two grands prix in late 2020 in place of the injured Romain Grosjean at Haas while Felipe Drugovich won the 2022 Formula 2 title, and has acted as Aston Martin’s test and reserve driver, but has not landed a Formula 1 opportunity.

Brazil remains one of Formula 1’s biggest TV markets while its grand prix – on the calendar since 1973 – is contracted at São Paulo’s iconic Interlagos circuit through 2030.

Complete Overhaul of Sauber Lineup

Bortoleto’s hire means Sauber will enter 2025 with an overhauled driver lineup, effectively meaning it is the end of the road for current pairing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Bottas has been in Formula 1 since 2013 and his most successful phase came as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, taking 10 wins and twice finishing runner-up in the championship.

He also contributed to five of Mercedes’ Constructors’ titles and his tally of 67 podiums puts him inside the top 10 list.

Bottas enjoyed a strong start to his time at Sauber—then under the Alfa Romeo name—in 2022 but the team has faded across his three-year stay and it has not scored a point this season. The Finn, who has been Sauber’s stronger driver this year and has driven well in lackluster equipment, hoped that new management at the team would provide an olive branch, and would prefer to stick with a known quantity.

But that has not been forthcoming and instead the veteran faces the conclusion of his lengthy career.

“A situation like this is never easy for anyone,” Bottas said. “But after all the good and in-depth discussions we had in the past weeks, we realised that the conditions to grow this project together were not met.”

Zhou became China’s first Formula 1 racer when he joined Sauber in 2022 but has taken just six points finishes in three years and has been overshadowed by Bottas.

“I am grateful to the team for giving me a chance in Formula 1: this is not an easy sport for rookies, but the team has allowed me to grow so much over these three years,” Zhou said. “China, earlier this season, was without doubt a highlight, but so many moments, both in public and behind the scenes, are what I am going to remember from the last three years.”