He Beat Them in F2. Why Is Bortoleto Still Chasing Them in F1?

Gabriel Bortoleto finished ahead of Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli in the 2024 Formula 2 championship. Their different opportunities in F1 now demand a different kind of patience.

Gabriel Bortoleto won the championship. Isack Hadjar finished second. Kimi Antonelli was sixth.

That was Formula 2 in 2024. Through Singapore this season, Antonelli leads the Formula 1 standings, Hadjar is eighth and Bortoleto sits 15th with 10 points.

The contrast shows how much changes when young drivers reach F1. A junior title establishes a driver’s credentials. The next step also depends on the machinery and organization around him.

Bortoleto is now helping Audi develop while the drivers he beat have opportunities farther up the field.

“But I have to be patient. Everyone has their own path,” he told Roberto Chinchero in an interview published by Autosport.

The championship that earned his opportunity

Bortoleto’s junior record gives him good reason to believe in his ability.

He followed his 2023 Formula 3 title with the Formula 2 championship at his first attempt, finishing on 214.5 points to Hadjar’s 192. Antonelli scored 113.

His season included a first F2 victory at Spielberg and a recovery from last to first in the Monza Feature Race. Two second-place finishes at the Abu Dhabi finale completed the title campaign.

Those results demonstrated speed, recovery and consistency across a championship. They also helped secure his move to Sauber for 2025, ahead of the team’s transition to Audi.

But the finishing order from that season could never determine the order of their F1 careers. They arrived at different teams, with different cars and different development challenges.

Audi’s ambition has a longer timetable

Audi’s stated goal is to fight for championships by 2030. Mattia Binotto set out that ambition at the manufacturer’s November 2025 presentation, emphasizing the time, people and continued improvement required.

That is a target, with substantial work still ahead. Through Singapore, Audi is eighth in the constructors’ standings on 23 points, seven behind Haas.

The team’s immediate battles illustrate the distance between its current position and that ambition. Before Singapore, racing director Allan McNish said Audi had missed points on the final lap in both Baku and Sepang. He stressed how precisely the team needed to execute a weekend in a closely contested midfield.

Singapore brought points for Nico Hülkenberg in both the Sprint and Grand Prix, while Bortoleto retired from Sunday’s race.

For now, turning competitive weekends into points is a meaningful measure of progress.

Learning from Binotto and Verstappen

Bortoleto told Autosport that Audi’s long-term project sustains his motivation. He wants to develop alongside it and be ready if the team produces winning machinery.

He also described the support he receives from Binotto, whom he approaches for personal advice as well as professional guidance.

His conversations with Max Verstappen offer another perspective. Bortoleto asks about Red Bull’s development before Verstappen’s first championship, including how the team worked through that period. He kept the details of their advice private.

Those conversations fit the challenge facing him: continuing to improve when victories are beyond the car’s current reach.

Bortoleto has already delivered the junior results that earned him an F1 opportunity. The next stage requires both his own development and Audi’s. His former rivals provide a visible comparison, but the work immediately ahead is making more of the car he has.