Sauber reveal surprise cost of signing Gabriel Bortoleto from McLaren

Amidst reports Red Bull will have to pay a staggering €20 million for Franco Colapinto, Mattia Binotto says McLaren didn’t ask for anything from Sauber for Gabriel Bortoleto.

Next year’s Formula 1 championship could see as many as five rookies enter the fray with Kimi Antonelli confirmed by Mercedes along with Oliver Bearman for Haas and Jack Doohan for Alpine.

Sauber ‘didn’t pay’ McLaren for Gabriel Bortoleto

They’ll be joined by Brazilian driver Bortoleto, who was confirmed on Wednesday by Sauber, while Colapinto could also find a full-time ride with Red Bull either at VCARB or the senior team.

Colapinto’s place though could depend on Red Bull being willing to pay Williams as much as €20 million for the Argentinean driver’s services. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport that’s the Grove team’s price to release Colapinto from his contract.

That’s in sharp contrast to McLaren’s asking price, which was zero.

According to Audi F1 chief Binotto, who spoke to the media including PlanetF1.com as he confirmed Bortoleto for the 2025 F1 season, McLaren made no demands of Sauber, it was more a case of if someone offered him the 20-year-old a race seat in Formula 1, he would be free to leave.

And leave he is doing, signing a multi-year contract that will see him race for the team when it is rebranded Audi in 2026.

“I didn’t discuss with Zak [Brown],” Binotto told the media including PlanetF1, “if not just to say hello and shake hands. We didn’t pay.

“Gabriel was more free to leave because he got the opportunity.”

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Williams’ asking fee for Colapinto could, it’s fair to say, be based on the junior’s experience as he’s already raced for Williams and by the end of the season will have nine races under his belt.

That’s valuable experience for a newcomer and is in sharp contrast to Bortoleto who has done a single TPC [Testing in a Previous Car] with McLaren.

Bortoleto joined McLaren’s Driver Development Programme in 2023 and, with the backing of the Woking team, has emerged as a Formula 2 title contender as he leads the standings by 4.5 points ahead of the final two rounds of the season.

McLaren though did not give him much time in their Formula 1 cars with Bortoleto not even doing a Friday practice session, McLaren instead giving that to Pato O’Ward in Mexico.

He has, however, done one TPC outing with his next F1 outing the post-season young driver test with Sauber.

“I just did one day with McLaren,” he confirmed. “I was at Red Bull Ring, and that was a nice day. Did some testing with the F1 car for the first time.

“And yeah, the plan is to do the young driver tests with Sauber at the end of the season, get used to the phone car even more and ready for next season.”

Announcing Bortoleto’s departure prior to the Sauber announcement, McLaren conceded that in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri they have their line-up wrapped up and therefore could not give the Brazilian an F1 opportunity.

In a short statement, McLaren said: “Gabriel Bortoleto will be released from the McLaren Driver Development programme at the end of the 2024 season to pursue a new opportunity in his career.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Gabriel over the last year and to have been able to contribute to his success and growth as a driver through the McLaren Driver Development programme.

“We have a strong driver line-up in Lando and Oscar, and therefore we have always been clear that we would not stand in the way of an opportunity for Gabriel to progress whilst we are not in the position to offer him a seat with McLaren.

“We look forward to continuing to support Gabriel in his campaign for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 title and wish him all the best for his career beyond F2.”

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