Thoughts Of A Formula 2 Champion – Gabriel Bortoleto

FIA Formula 2: Gabriel Bortoleto, 2024 FIA Formula 2 Champion. How does that sound?

Gabriel Bortoleto: Well, it’s one of the best feelings of my life, I think. It’s been a very long season. We have been through a lot of things since the beginning where we struggled a lot in Jeddah and Australia, where I had a very big crash. The team never gave up, I never gave up as well, and from that moment on, I think we deserved every single point we achieved in this Championship. We had luck, but we also created our own luck, with our pace, with our work, the extra hours we did in the sim, all the extra hours we had, the late nights working on the simulations for new things to bring the car in the right window for the new tracks that were coming up for me and for the team as well. So, yeah, it has been a very long one. My progression through this season has been the best progression I had in my entire life as a driver. I’ve grown up so much personally and professionally as well. I’ve learned so much. I met a lot of new people in my life that I’m super grateful to have as well that helped me to achieve this Championship. And I’m super proud of it. Super, super proud of it.

FIA Formula 2: You join an illustrious club of drivers who have won the junior Formula 3/GP3 Series and Formula 2 in back-to-back seasons as a rookie: Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and now Gabriel Bortoleto, what does it mean to you to join that list?

Bortoleto: They are Formula 1 race winners, so for me it’s privileged to be around these names. They are drivers that I’ve always been inspired by when you see them racing in junior series and they were winning everything, dominating the Championships as rookies, surprising their F1 teams, getting their seats in F1, growing up, winning races in F1. And that’s obviously one of my targets – to represent my country in F1 and to win races and hopefully Championships there one day. So, it’s amazing to be around these names and to be one of the few people that managed to achieve this.

FIA Formula 2: You’ve delivered Invicta Racing their first Driver’s Championship, how have you found the environment within the team and what do you think is the key to Invicta’s success this season?

Bortoleto: Well, I think we have been through a lot, we had a lot of ups and down this season which, when you have those downs when you are working so much with the team, sometimes you even get tired of seeing each other’s faces. There were moments like this this season that were very tough, that were very demanding from both sides, from my side as well, from their side but we always aimed for only one target and that was winning this Championship, to do the best we could race by race, progressing every single weekend we had on track and we did it in the best way. It’s also super great that I managed to give them the first Drivers’ Championship they’ve ever had. They had already some Teams’ Championships before, but finally I was able to give them their first Drivers’ one. It was a big bet for them because when they signed me, I was not even an F3 Champion yet. I was still in my F3 season, leading at Silverstone, it was a bet for them in that moment – to bet that a rookie driver could win a Championship, and I can say that I delivered what they asked me to. So super proud of that.

FIA Formula 2: You are leaving F2, and the support paddock in general. Apart from the stellar sporting result, what will you keep with you?

Bortoleto: Well, from this season I can say, never give up, keep pushing and be a leader, don’t let people around you get you down. You need them to be positive, they need to be pulling you up, not down, and I think that’s what I learned the most this year because in my difficult moments at the beginning of the season, I had everyone in my family, the team, my girlfriend, who is here as well, the sponsors, the Federation, everyone, everyone in Brazil, the fans supporting me, ‘don’t be down Gabriel, keep pushing. You can do it, you can win it.’ And I think that’s what I learned the most. You need to be surrounded by good people that can help you to achieve your dreams and hopefully I can bring this to the team next year and to develop them because we know that that’s a team that’s going through a new project right now with Audi. So, we will need to develop a lot of things and hopefully I can be a great – I don’t think leader is the right word because I’m a rookie, but together with Nico, we hopefully can do a very good job and achieve many things with Audi in the future.