Verstappen backs Bortoleto for Sauber seat

Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto would have a seat in Formula One next season if triple world champion Max Verstappen was making the decision.

There is only one clear vacancy remaining for 2025, at Swiss-based Sauber, and Red Bull driver Verstappen said Formula Two leader Bortoleto would be the man he would sign if the decision was his.

"If I was Sauber I would have signed him already," the Dutch driver told reporters ahead of Bortoleto's home Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.

"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.

Sauber, who will become Audi in 2026, have experienced German Nico Hulkenberg signed for 2025 and numerous candidates for the other seat including the incumbent Valtteri Bottas.

Bortoleto, 20, won the Formula Three championship last year and is now leading Formula Two.

He is however part of the McLaren driver development programme and is managed by A14, a company founded by double world champion Fernando Alonso.

McLaren's Oscar 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.