Rookie names key Alonso voice message that still inspires him

09:17, 03 Nov

byKada Sarkozi

Gabriel Bortoleto once received a voice message from Fernando Alonso during his Formula 3 days — one he still remembers to this day.

"I remember he sent me the long voice message saying that don't expect to win every single round [in F3]."

- Gabriel Bortoleto

Bortoleto bounced back in Mexico, finishing tenth and scoring a point as the Sauber team continues to battle for sixth place in the constructors' championship. That came after a difficult weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, where he was the penultimate driver to cross the finish line.

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The young driver said: "You will have good and bad weekends — I’ve said this before. I’m a rookie; it’s not an excuse for [wanting] a better weekend, but when you have experience, you can see things from a different perspective, and I’ve been learning."

"I'm happy that maybe I went through that weekend in Austin because it opened my eyes to a lot of things, and when you are only having good results everyone is happy, and everything is going well, so you maybe don't look so much at the downside of the weekend.

"But when you have bad weekends you only look at the bad things normally, so I think it's important to have some weekends that you can look at yourself and understand what you can do better."

Photo: Race Pictures

Alonso's voice message to Bortoleto

The Brazilian joined Alonso’s A14 Management ahead of his Formula 3 campaign. That same season, he won the championship, taking victory in the first two feature races — but wouldn’t win again until the end of the year.

The two-time world champion also sent him a voice message, explaining that this is the reality of racing.

The rookie continued: "Things never went bad in F3 to be honest. I think I didn't win anymore. So I was still on the podium, in [the] top 5, scoring good points.

"But yes I remember he sent me the long voice message saying that don't expect to win every single round this season. At some point you will drop off this performance you are having because it's natural, and you just need to keep your head up, and keep working and doing the best you can.

"Because when you get used to winning maybe it's not easy to, or scoring points or being on the podium, dropping out of this range of good performance you have is never easy," Bortoleto concluded.

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