Gabriel Bortoleto is a prime example of the sacrifices that a young motorsport athlete must make in order to realize the dream of Formula 1. His story, from his beginnings in go-karting in Sao Paulo to moving to Europe as an eleven-year-old, shows that talent alone is not enough. The path to the top is a balancing act between family dedication and the iron will of the driver.
Bortoleto owes his passion for racing to his family. His father, who himself came from a poor background and had no money for his own races, was a passionate fan who loved Ayrton Senna. He even once worked at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to “help rich people get out of helicopters.”
The initial spark came from his grandmother. She sat him on a wall and made him spend hours analyzing the street cars driving by – he had to say the name of the car and the type of engine. This early influence and his mother’s love of sports strengthened his passion.
Formula 1 was always the goal
His father successfully built a business because he knew he would need money to finance Bortoleto’s career. He didn’t rely on sponsors, as they were very difficult to find in Brazil, and worked incredibly hard to pay for the races.
For the young Bortoleto, this familial effort became a deep-rooted motivation: “I had a very clear idea that the reason why my father worked so much and was not with the family so much when I was young was because my brother and I were racing.” Formula 1 became a goal and a duty for him, he says in the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast: “This is the minimum I can achieve to compensate for everything he did for us.”
At just six years old, Bortoleto began karting in Aldeia da Serra in Sao Paulo. At the age of eleven, the big, lonely step followed: moving to Europe.
Alone in Europe
This early farewell was extremely emotionally demanding. Bortoleto moved to Desenzano, near the Lonato circuit, with only his Brazilian driver trainer Francesco.
“It was hard in the sense that I was far away from my family.” He, who was used to sleeping in the house with his parents and brother every evening and spending the whole day with them, suddenly didn’t see them for three or four months.
But the focus was stronger than homesickness: “My dream of getting into Formula 1 was so big and I was so convinced of what I wanted that I never really realized it.” He never had the thought of wanting to return home. The daily FaceTime calls with the family were a big help.
Hardly any time for school
Francesco and his wife, who came later, became a kind of second parents, raising him in their own way. They took a similar approach to his parents in that they were honest and Francesco himself had a son who raced stock cars.
When asked about his training, Bortoleto laughed: “Well, that’s a question you shouldn’t ask a racing driver.” He attended school in Brazil until he was 11 and switched to online distance learning in Europe.
He freely admits that pre-COVID online school wasn’t ideal and he didn’t learn much. Although he graduated from school through programs for athletes, he insists: “I traveled so much. I learned so many different languages.” He is fluent in Italian, Portuguese and English and fully understands Spanish, although he has difficulty speaking.
His story is the best proof that the path to the top in professional motorsport is a university of life where the racing suit takes precedence over the school uniform.