Formula 1 stars becoming agents is nothing new – just look at Mark Webber managing Oscar Piastri – however, competing against them is a whole different story.
In fact, it’s such a different story that the 2025 season will see an agent and his client going wheel-to-wheel for the first time ever.
The extraordinary feat came to fruition on November 6 when it was announced that Gabriel Bortoleto will be F1’s newest driver, joining Kick Sauber for the 2025 season.
The reigning Formula 3 champion is currently on course to win Formula 2 at the first time of asking, a feat only achieved by elite talents like Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and the aforementioned Piastri.
However, talent doesn’t always land you a spot on the grid – just ask Piastri – but this time the work of one of the sport’s biggest names has.
Bortoleto is in fact managed by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who he will race alongside next season.
To make the story even more incredible, 43-year-old Alonso made his F1 debut in 2001, three years before his client was even born.
A legendary driver who has enjoyed stints at Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and now Aston Martin, Alonso used his status to found his own A14 Management company.
Alonso is also the agent of young Spaniard Pepe Marti and Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov, but Brazilian star Bortoleto is the first of his clients to make it to the big time.
Discussing Alonso’s impact on his career, Bortoleto said: “He can do everything basically, it’s incredible.
“He was one of the people who helped me the most with my contract with McLaren’s academy.
“Even when things were not going so well at Aston Martin, he managed to find some time from his racing days to go and talk to Zak Brown and find out how to close this deal.
Bortoleto will compete against fellow F2 star Bearman[/caption]
“I think this is a very good thing. I don’t usually speak to Fernando every week because I know he’s quite busy, but whenever he sees me he takes some time out to ask me how things are going and to make sure everything is going well with my career.”
The 20-year-old is just as surprised to see his relationship with Alonso reach this unusual conclusion, but he’s not got any concerns about how things will go down on track.
“We always joke about it, to be honest, because before I was born, he started racing in Formula 1, and now I’m getting there. I’m going to drive with him.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good time in Formula 1 together. He’s been helping me a lot on my journey. I think it will be a lot of fun and I’ll have a good time with him.”
Bortoleto also talked about Alonso’s impact not just on getting contracts signed, but also on the track with racing advice.
Discussing a voice message from his agent and mentor, he added: “I would say that of course it helped me for the whole year, because it was like a ten-minute audio.
“It was very cool, because he told me a lot of things about how to concentrate on the championship and get as many points as possible… it was very good.”
Bortoleto will be the fourth full-time rookie on the 2025 grid, joining Mercedes Kimi Andrea Antonelli, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Haas’ Oliver Bearman.
Bearman has already debuted in three Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen unavailable, while Franco Colapinto is looking to take the list of ‘full-time’ rookies up to five.
However, with Bortoleto announced, there’s only one spot left for the current Williams star, at Red Bull sister team VCARB.
The team have Yuki Tsunoda signed for 2025 and are currently testing out Liam Lawson after calling time on Daniel Ricciardo’s career.
As things stand, it looks like one of Lawson or Tsuonda will replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull after his disastrous season, freeing up Colapinto to potentially take the final spot on the grid.
