Gabriel Bortoleto’s cheeky ‘no way home’ joke after Alonso battle
Gabriel Bortoleto didn't just score his first points of 2025 at the Austrian GP — he also battled mentor Fernando Alonso.
Gabriel Bortoleto has plenty to celebrate after the Austrian Grand Prix: The Brazilian was able to convert a strong qualifying session into his first-ever points-paying finish in Formula 1, and fans voted him Driver of the Day to celebrate.
The Sauber driver spent several laps battling with mentor Fernando Alonso — and for Bortoleto, the best part of the weekend may very well have been the fact that the two didn’t crash, “because then I’d got no way to get home!”
Gabriel Bortoleto in high spirits after Fernando Alonso tussle
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Heading into the Austrian Grand Prix, there were just two active drivers who had failed to score points in 2025: Alpine’s recent hire Franco Colapinto and Sauber’s full-time driver Gabriel Bortoleto.
The Brazilian driver entered Formula 1 this season with plenty of high hopes resting on his shoulders. In 2023, he secured the Formula 3 Championship title in his first time of asking. When he moved up to Formula 2 the following year, he did the same, bringing home another crown as a rookie.
In signing with Sauber’s Formula 1 program for 2025, it was likely that Bortoleto’s winning streak was set to come to an end. Now, rather than fighting for wins, he’s been fighting for his first F1 points — and in Austria, those points finally came.
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Much of that has to do with the fact that Bortoleto progressed all the way to the top-10 shootout in qualifying on Saturday, where he set a lap quick enough to start from eighth on the grid. After Saturday’s session, Bortoleto confessed that he finally felt comfortable in his Kick Sauber machine, that he’s really clicked with the team’s latest upgrades.
Come Sunday afternoon, Bortoleto was able to carry the momentum of qualifying into the race, crossing the line in the same place he started the Grand Prix: Eighth. But to snag that spot, he first needed to battle the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Remember, Bortoleto is signed to Fernando Alonso’s driver management company A14, and the two have spent time off-track traveling to and from races together this season. A clean race, then, was critical!
Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, after the race, Bortoleto was enthusiastic about the battle with F1’s elder statesman, saying, “It was fun, yeah, especially because he raced very hard. I had a lot of fun.
“Luckily we didn’t crash, because then I’d got no way to get home probably!”
The fact that the two often share a plane has been the butt of jokes previously this season; after the Saudi Grand Prix, after Bortoleto nearly made contact with him, Alonso joked that the Brazilian wouldn’t be “getting any dinner” on the trip back home had they actually made contact.
While he was grateful to avoid a collision, Bortoleto was also happy to truly experience what it was like to compete against Alonso.
“He has a lot of experience,” Bortoleto explained. “He knew how to play perfectly with the blue flags and everything.
“He almost overtook Norris on the back straight, but he knew exactly how to do it without doing it wrong. Just perfect.”
Asked if he felt he could learn something by comparing his race to Alonso’s, Bortoleto replied, “For sure, but that’s a study you should have when you’re at home relaxing and you go and check the onboard of the guy and you check every single line, the way he looks in the mirror, the way he brakes to get the DRS in the right position.
“I feel like I’ve been a young boy trying to get his first points, and the guy was just like relaxed there, just trying to defend.
“He knew exactly what he was doing. He was under control of the race there, and he had worse tyres, and he still managed to keep me behind for two laps, so that was very good work from him.”
It may seem somewhat obvious to point out that Alonso knew exactly how to conduct himself behind the wheel, but for Bortoleto, F1 is a whole new world. The Brazilian is still learning the ropes, and it’s very likely that every on-track move comes with ample consideration. By contrast, racing is second nature for Alonso.
The Austrian Grand Prix was a strong weekend overall for Sauber. With Bortoleto in eighth and Nico Hulkenberg in P9, this marks the first double-points finish for the team since the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg has also scored points in three consecutive races. That’s the first time a Sauber driver has done so since Valtteri Bottas scored points in five consecutive races during the early stages of 2022.
Every point is critical, particularly for the teams lower in the championship standings, where one good day can mean an improvement of position.
As things currently stand, Kick Sauber boasts 26 points, which is good enough for ninth of 10 teams in the World Constructors’ Championship — but it’s within striking distance of Aston Martin (28 points) and Haas (29 points). Should this uptick in performance continue, Sauber will likely hope to challenge Racing Bulls for sixth place.
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