Gabriel Bortoleto: ‘my dream was so big’ - the long journey to F1

F1 Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports News, News, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Aged 11, Gabriel Bortoleto left Brazil, determined to make it in motorsport. His family’s passion, hard work and sacrifice gave him a start. His talent saw him accelerate towards a racing career. A two-time World Champion saw he was special, and helped guide him to Formula 1.

Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Gabriel looks back at his childhood, how his parents worked hard to fund his racing dream, how he made the difficult decision to leave them behind and go to Europe to further his career, and why Fernando Alonso’s support was essential as he climbed the racing ladder.

Winning the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championship titles earned Gabi a place in F1. He explains how he is adjusting to the driving and living in the World Championship, the pride he feels representing Brazil, what racing against experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg is teaching him, how his manager and on-track rival Alonso continues to help him, and why he spends hours on his home simulator immediately after every race weekend.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	He left Brazil when he was just 11 years old.
0:09.0	It was tough because I used to sleep every night in my home with my parents, with my brother,
0:15.0	and we have such a close relationship that we were doing everything together the whole day.
0:20.0	And from one day to another, finish.
0:22.8	I didn't see them for three, four months.
0:25.1	And, you know, for a kid that is 11 years old, it was tough.
0:28.5	But Gabriel Bortoletto had to follow his life's ambition.
0:33.1	My dream was so big to be in Formula One that I never realized
0:36.8	until I entered F1 and then I'm like,
0:39.3	what I did was quite crazy, you know.
0:41.8	The reason why my father was working so much and not being so much with the family at some
0:46.0	point, it was because I was racing and my brother was racing.
0:49.4	So it became like a goal, like I need to be a Formula One driver.
0:52.8	This is the minimum I can achieve to
0:54.7	compensate everything he did for us. The sacrifices Gabriel's family made have certainly paid
1:03.6	off because he's gone from winning back-to-back championships in Formula 3 and Formula 2 to being
1:09.0	described as the real deal by his Saubour team principal
1:13.0	Jonathan Wheatley. Welcome everyone to F1 Beyond the Grid with me Tom Cloutson, where Gabriel tells
1:19.8	me the remarkable story of his journey from Sao Paulo to the pinnacle of world motorsport.
1:26.3	Gabriel's success on his way to Formula One brings high expectations, as does the fact
1:31.4	he's representing a country that's eagerly awaiting its fourth world champion.
1:36.1	So how much pressure does he feel to follow in the footsteps of his idol Ayrton Senna?
	...

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