Gabriel Bortoleto was yet to turn one year old when his mentor Fernando Alonso won his first world championship with Renault in 2005. But the Brazilian teenager has learned a lot from the Spaniard, having been taken under his wing as part of A14 Management last September.
Moving to Europe aged 11 to compete in karting, Bortoleto made his car racing debut in 2020, finishing fifth in Italian F4 with junior series stalwart Prema and scoring his maiden win at Mugello. He impressed enough to graduate to Formula Regional European Championship with Alonso’s eponymous team before moving to R-ace GP for 2022, finishing sixth with two wins.
Bortoleto is now driving for Trident in Formula 3 and has quickly made an impact. He leads the standings after winning the first two feature races of the season in Bahrain and Melbourne, despite never having driven at either circuit before. Gabriele Mini's start procedure infringement which resulted in a time penalty lifted Bortoleto to the top spot in Bahrain, but he needed no assistance in Australia as he fended off race-long pressure from Gregoire Saucy to convert pole position.
The 18-year-old admits he was “a bit surprised” by the instant good results, but says hard work is the key to his success.
“Hard work, I would say is the main thing, there is not a secret,” he tells Autosport. “This is just the main thing that I can think of. We have been working since last September, as soon as the F3 season finished. We had already a deal with Trident and we did a test in Jerez which went very well, we were P1 as well.
“From that moment, I think my worst position in practice or testing was today [in free practice] in Monaco to be fair. I think all of this is hard work and a lot of preparation.
“I knew that we had the potential because I trust myself, and I know how much effort I put in. Trident showed the potential last year as well from winning the last three rounds of the championship and being runner-up in the drivers’ standings.
Source: Autosport