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F1 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto came out and hailed Max Verstappen as the greatest F1 driver of all time and put the Dutchman alongside his childhood hero Ayrton Senna. Bortoleto made his F1 debut with Sauber this year after winning the 2024 F2 championship.
Gabriel Bortoleto is a Brazilian F1 driver who grew up in the South American country before moving to Europe to race professionally in single-seaters. Growing up in Brazil, the Sauber driver idolized the local legend Ayrton Senna.
Senna is regarded as the GOAT of F1 by many around the world, including drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Senna passed away after the injuries sustained during his crash at the 1994 San Marino GP. He won three F1 world championships and was only 34 years old when he passed away.
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Senna was known for having a great feeling of what a car was doing underneath him and pushing the car beyond the limits while keeping it under control. Max Verstappen came onto the F1 scene in the mid-2010s, and instantly impressed everyone with his skills.
The Dutchman was soon promoted to Red Bull Racing, where he won multiple races, beating all his teammates before eventually winning his first F1 title in 2021. Max Verstappen followed it up with three more championships in the next three years, including the 2023 season, where he won 19 of the 22 races.
Gabriel Bortoletto recently spoke with Motorsport and detailed how Max Verstappen has been a great help to him, as he put the Dutchman alongside Ayrton Senna. He said,
“Max is a great guy. For me, along with Ayrton Senna , he's the greatest driver of all time. I really admire his way of approaching racing, his way of understanding the sport, his understanding of the car, and the calm with which he approaches everything. He's truly an example for me of how I want to be as a driver.”
Gabriel Bortoleto details Max Verstappen's help even before he joined F1
Max Verstappen and Gabriel Bortoleto became friends in 2023 when the Brazilian driver was in the F3 championship. The Sauber driver became friends with Verstappen via sim racing and officially joined the Dutchman's sim racing team, Team Redline, in 2023. Explaining how Verstappen helped him even before Bortoleto joined F1, the Brazilian said,
“He helped me a lot on my way to F1 by giving me a lot of advice and recommendations, and talking about me with people in the paddock.”
“Jonathan told me that even before I joined Sauber-Audi, Max was very positive about me. I know Max doesn't usually talk about this himself, especially in front of the media, but it's something he helped me with: talking about me to people in F1. I was getting good results and he wanted to help me,” added Bortoleto. (Via Motorsport)
Gabriel Bortoleto signed with Fernando Alonso's management team, A14 management, which reportedly helped him secure the 2025 Sauber drive. Alonso and Verstappen are also good friends, with a lot of mutual respect between the two.
