The road to Formula 1 is a balancing act between family devotion and the driver’s iron will—Gabriel Bortoleto moved to Europe alone as a child.
Gabriel Bortoleto is a prime example of the sacrifices a young motorsports athlete must make to realize their Formula 1 dream. His story, from his beginnings in go-karting in Sao Paulo to moving to Europe at the age of eleven, shows that talent alone is not enough. The road to the top is a balancing act between family devotion and the driver’s iron will.
Bortoleto owes his passion for racing to his family. His father, who himself came from a poor background and had no money for his own races, was a passionate fan who loved Ayrton Senna. He even worked once at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to “help the rich people get out of helicopters.”
The initial spark came from his grandmother. She sat him on a wall and let him spend hours analyzing the cars passing by on the street—he had to name the car and the type of engine. This early influence and his mother’s love of the sport reinforced his passion.
Formula 1 was always the goal
His father successfully built up a business because he knew he would need money to finance Bortoleto’s career. He did not rely on sponsors, as it was very difficult to find them in Brazil, and worked incredibly hard to be able to pay for the races.
For the young Bortoleto, this family effort became a deeply rooted motivation: “I had a very clear idea that the reason my father worked so hard and wasn’t around the family much during my early childhood was because my brother and I were racing.” Formula 1 became his goal and his duty, he says in the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast: “This is the minimum I can achieve to compensate for everything he has done for us.”
At the age of just six, Bortoleto started karting in Aldeia da Serra in Sao Paulo. At the age of eleven, he took the big, lonely step of moving to Europe.
Alone in Europe
This early departure was emotionally demanding. Bortoleto moved to Desenzano, near the Lonato racetrack, with only his Brazilian driving coach Francesco. “It was hard in the sense that I was far away from my family.” He, who was used to sleeping at home with his parents and brother every night and spending the whole day with them, suddenly didn’t see them for three or four months.
But his focus was stronger than his homesickness: “My dream of getting into Formula 1 was so big, and I was so convinced of what I wanted that I never really realized it.” He never thought about wanting to return home. The daily FaceTime calls with his family were a great help.
Hardly any time for school
Francesco and his wife, who joined him later, became a kind of second set of parents, raising him in their own way. They took a similar approach to his parents, as they were honest and Francesco himself had a son who raced stock cars.
When asked about his education, Bortoleto laughs: ” Well, that’s a question you shouldn’t ask a race car driver.” He attended school in Brazil until he was eleven years old and then switched to online distance learning in Europe. He freely admits that online school was not ideal before the COVID era and that he did not learn much. Although he graduated from school through programs for athletes, he insists: “I was on the road so much. I learned so many different languages.” He speaks Italian, Portuguese, and English fluently and understands Spanish completely, even if he has difficulty speaking it.
His story is the best proof that the path to the top in professional motorsport is a university of life, where the racing suit takes precedence over the school uniform.
