By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -McLaren will not stand in the way of Gabriel Bortoleto if the Brazilian finds a seat in Formula One next year, team principal Andrea Stella said on Friday, adding that talks were ongoing for a potential move.
Bortoleto, 20, is a member of the McLaren driver development programme but will not have a shot at driving for the Woking-based team next year as they have race winners Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri under contract.
The Brazilian, who won the Formula Three championship last year and is now leading Formula Two, has been linked to a potential move to Sauber next season — the only clear vacancy remaining for 2025.
“McLaren will not stop the possibility for Gabriel to drive Formula One. Conversations are ongoing and we will see what the scenario will be for the future,” Stella told a press conference ahead of Bortoleto’s home Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say once again how good a work he’s been doing in junior categories … I think it’s very, very normal and natural that Formula One teams are interested in having Gabriel as a driver.”
Triple world champion Max Verstappen has backed Bortoleto for a seat at Sauber, the Audi works team from 2026.
“If I was Sauber I would have signed him already,” Verstappen told reporters.
“Especially if that’s anyway the future, you know, young drivers. And 2026, big rule change. It’s always good to get used to a team already for a year, make your mistakes here and there, get integrated well, understand the car a bit.
“You always feel much more prepared and comfortable when you then start in ’26.”
Brazil, home of the late Ayrton Senna and fellow champions Nelson Piquet and Emerson Fittipaldi, currently has no driver in Formula One.
Bortoleto has been with McLaren since last year and is managed by a company founded by double world champion Fernando Alonso.
Piastri, who won the F3 title in 2020 and F2 title in 2021 but had to sit out a year before getting an F1 seat, agreed Bortoleto deserved to be on the F1 grid.
“I think he’s been doing a very impressive job,” said the Australian.
“I have the personal experience of the pain of not getting a seat. So for his sake, I hope he doesn’t have to go through that,” he added.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Writing by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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