Every Formula 1 driver has their racing role models. Some are even lucky enough to share the grid with them. But for Gabriel Bortoleto, the entire trajectory of his career was directly shaped by not one but two massive names in the sport who saw his potential and took him under their wing. From being managed by one F1 World Champion to being gaming buds with another, here are three facts about Bortoleto that every racing fan needs to know.
Fernando Alonso saved his career at the last moment
In motorsport, driving a race car sometimes seems simpler than actually securing a seat with a team.
“We didn’t know how difficult it was to get a seat in F3,” said Bortoleto to F1 pundit Lawrence Barretto at the start of his F1 career. Three years earlier, in 2022, was a particularly tough period for Bortoleto as he struggled to get the results he hoped for in various Formula Regional series, and as he worked to make headway with the limited connections he had with Formula 3 teams. By the summer he still didn’t have an F3 seat.
“We thought ‘Oh we’re still in July, we have time’. Then I started hearing PREMA was full, Trident was almost full, and I thought maybe we should start pushing for it.”
It quickly became evident that time was running out and opportunities were disappearing faster than Bortoleto could have ever thought. His career was in jeopardy.
Things, however, took a turn when his father, Lincoln Oliveira, was set to take part in a race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. There, Oliveira met with none other than Fernando Alonso and Alonso’s long-time colleagues and friends Alberto Fernandez Albilares and Albert Resclosa Coll, with whom the two-time World Champion had formed the driver management agency A14.
“Fernando knew who I was as I raced for his team in FRECA. I had some great results for the team like the first podium, the first front row,” recalled Bortoleto.
“Both of us wanted to be together, me having a good management team, and them trusting in a young driver who could potentially do good results in the future. They called Trident and it was quite a crazy thing. Everything worked out very well. We signed, we won the championship – and it became very nice.”
His father used to volunteer at races just to gain access
Like several other drivers on the grid, Bortoleto’s passion for racing started in his own home, and specifically from his father.
“My father has always been a huge fan, but when he was young he didn't have much money, so he started from scratch,” said Bortoleto in a 2025 interview with Motorsport.com.
What did starting from scratch mean for a younger Lincoln Oliveira?
“When the grand prix was held at Interlagos, he helped VIPs get out of helicopters and accompanied them to the paddock entrance,” explained Bortoleto. “It was a way for him to be at the race track, since he couldn't afford a grandstand ticket.”
Since then Oliveira has made massive moves in the field of motorsport. While his son is busy racing F1 cars, Oliveira is managing a stock car series in Brazil. Specifically, he is the CEO of Grupo Veloci, the company behind the Bradesco Stock Car Pro Series, which is one of if not the biggest motorsport series in Brazil. It has seen drivers from all ranks compete in it, including several names that are familiar to F1 fans, such as Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello and Nelson Piquet Jr.
Gaming his way to Max Verstappen’s friendship and mentorship
Alonso is not the only F1 World Drivers’ Champion who has had a pivotal role in shaping Bortoleto’s own racing career. Around the time that he entered F3, Bortoleto began building a steadfast friendship with another powerhouse figure in the paddock: Max Verstappen.
"I started to talk more often with Max when I was at the beginning of my season in F3. We started playing a lot of video games together – and sim racing," said Bortoleto in a 2025 interview with Motorsport.com’s Erwin Jaeggi.
Indeed, Bortoleto quickly joined Verstappen’s sim racing team, Redline, during his F3 days. At first, he mostly practiced with them, not participating in any of the official sim races, but eventually the role turned into an ambassadorship, with Bortoleto even competing in certain sim racing competitions such as the Real Racers Never Quit Championship in 2024.
But one area where Verstappen has been truly pivotal is helping Bortoleto build up the reputation and relationships he needed to pave his way toward the F1 grid.
"He helped me on my way to Formula 1 with a lot of tips and advice, and a lot of talking to people in the F1 paddock as well, about me,” Bortoleto said to Jaeggi.
“I know Max doesn't speak often about this, and he doesn't speak about it in the media, that he helped me by talking to people in Formula 1 about me. But he was willing to help me, because he saw I was doing good results.”
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