Can Bortoleto keep up his good form? Wheatley was adamant he'd score first F1 points

14:35, 30 Jun

Updated: 16:12, 30 Jun

byLuke-John Buckle

Gabriel Bortoleto performed admirably throughout the Austrian Grand Prix to take the first world championship points of his Formula 1 career.

The Brazilian drove to eighth place in an impressive performance as his teammate Nico Hulkenberg followed him over the line in P9.

Bortoleto made very few mistakes over the 70-lap event and has developed very quickly as his first season in Formula 1.

The Sauber team have been developing well under the leadership of Jonathan Wheatley, and they scored their first double points finish since 2023.

Wheatley was very complimentary about the Brazilian after the superb drive to eighth place in Austria.

He felt it was a matter of time before he would score points and told GPBlog among others: "I just felt it was inevitable. And I know there was a little bit of a story brewing, like, ‘Oh, he’s the only one without points.

“But he’s just been on this journey and the mature approach he’s had since the beginning of it, in his work ethic, it’s like it’s not even something I gave thought to, it was only stuff that the media was asking me about.

“And what I love is, and what I’ve seen in the past with young drivers as well is, even though they have all the confidence in the world, each of these milestones just makes them build on it and build on it and build on it. And their confidence grows and grows and grows, you know."

Bortoleto hasn't had a lot of testing prior to this season

Bortoleto had a superb junior career as the Brazilian won the FIA F3 title and the Formula 2 championship in his rookie season.

He spent much of his career prior to Formula 1 as part of the McLaren set up but was signed by Sauber late last year.

Other rookies, such as Andrea Kimi Antonelli, had much more testing in slightly older F1 cars than Bortoleto. This allowed the Italian to adjust to Formula 1 cars at a quicker rate before making his debut.

Despite the relative lack of testing, Wheatley is convinced Bortoleto is a star of the future: "He’s got a very, very bright future ahead of him.

“This is a circuit that Gabi knows. It’s easy to forget it’s his first year, he hasn’t done this 10,000 hours of TPC testing in a Formula One car. He’s learning on the job. He’s learning at each track."