In a unremarkable car and following an unremarkable start, Bortoleto has had an incredible month.

F1 Grand Prix of Hungary | Joe Portlock/GettyImages

Defending Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto started off his time in F1 pretty quietly. This was somewhat understandable, as he took a seat with the team that came in last place in 2024.

But his much more experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg started stringing together results. And once Hulkenberg cooled off, finally it was Bortoleto’s turn.

Standings Position: 17th
Points: 14
Best Finish: 6th
Best Qualifying Position: 7th
Head-to-head race finishes (vs. Hulkenberg): 5-8
Head-to-head qualifying: 8-6
Head-to-head points: 14-37

Bortoleto shakes off a cold start

The expectations for what a rookie could do in a Sauber that didn’t score a point until the very end of the previous season were pretty low. But with the team set to rebrand to Audi in 2026, it felt like a cold first effort could make for as easy of a sacking as you could find.

On debut, the Brazilian showed immediate promise, getting out of Q1, whereas his teammate could not. But in a tremendously tricky wet race in Melbourne, Bortoleto couldn’t make it to the end while Hulkenberg posted six points — outscoring Sauber’s 2024 total in one go.

In the following four races, Bortoleto couldn’t escape from Q1 and finished toward the back each time. He suffered through a five-race streak of either retiring or finishing 18th or worse before a streak of decent, but still pointless, results in Monaco, Canada and Spain.

Breakthrough builds momentum for the Brazilian

Austria brought a new dawn for the struggling rookie, and in turn, an incredible weekend for Sauber.

Bortoleto made his first Q3 appearance, put it P8 ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly and maintained position for his first F1 points. He probably could and should’ve placed P7, but his mentor Fernando Alonso kept him at bay on older tires.

Austria was a double points day for Sauber, its first since Qatar 2023 (when they were branded as Alfa Romeo). Bortoleto would suffer a slow-speed retirement at Silverstone, but it has been a high-flying road into the break since then.

Bortoleto captured back-to-back points in Belgium (P9) and a stunning P6 in Hungary in races where Hulkenberg wasn’t able to score, really showing how impressive the rookie has been since it immediately followed Hulkenberg’s maiden podium. Maybe the craziest headline for Bortoleto is that he purely on pace beat Max Verstappen in Hungary qualifying. The skills that he clearly has in both racecraft and one-lap pace are very promising.

Bortoleto still has less than half the points Hulkenberg has, but he now has the head-to-head lead in qualifying, and isn’t too far behind on race head-to-head despite Hulkenberg’s career season. Even with the qualifier that Sauber’s pace is limiting, both sides of the lineup have done things that we haven’t seen in this team Valtteri Bottas’ beginnings with them, or even Charles Leclerc’s single season.

If Bortoleto can keep the momentum moving forward, he’s a driver to watch in the driver market for 2027.