Bortoleto taps Verstappen for Red Bull blueprint to accelerate Audi's F1 rise

Gabriel Bortoleto is using his friendship with Max Verstappen to mine the Red Bull blueprint, asking the four-time world champion how the Milton Keynes outfit transformed itself into a championship-winning operation as the Brazilian looks to accelerate Audi’s development in Formula 1.

The pair are close friends away from the track and frequently race together in online gaming sessions, where Bortoleto has turned the casual setting into an informal masterclass. “I talk to Max often,” Bortoleto said. “Obviously, the details stay between us, but we often talk about how I’m feeling, how I’m developing, what I want from Audi and how we’re progressing as a team. I ask him questions about what he experienced at Red Bull before winning the world championship: what things were like, how the team worked.”

Those conversations tend to surface naturally mid-race. “These are things that sometimes come into my head while we’re playing, so I ask him,” Bortoleto explained. He was equally clear that gaming serves a second purpose — pure escapism. “I’m laughing, I’m having fun, it’s not work.”

Bortoleto is in his second Formula 1 season and his first with Audi as a full works team following the manufacturer’s takeover of the former Sauber entry. He currently sits 15th in the drivers’ standings with 10 points, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg has contributed 13 points to leave Audi eighth in the constructors’ standings.

The 20-year-old arrived in F1 with considerable pedigree, having won the Formula 3 title in 2023 and the Formula 2 championship in 2024 — a campaign in which Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar was his closest rival and Kimi Antonelli finished sixth. Those back-to-back titles secured him his Sauber seat ahead of Audi’s full rebranding.

Bortoleto and Verstappen are both set to compete at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin.