Bernie Ecclestone played unique role in 2025 driver transfer as F1 influence still huge

has revealed that he 'opened a few doors' to allow to sign for next season, explaining that the young Brazilian's father 'thanked him' for helping his son make the step into F1.

Bortoleto is one of the most exciting prodigies on the junior series ladder and heads into the final two rounds of his rookie Formula Two championship at the top of the standings. If he holds off the threat of Isack Hadjar, he will secure a crown for the second successive season, after dominating Formula Three in 2023.

Despite his immense success in 2023 and a strong start to his rookie F2 campaign, F1 opportunities for Bortoleto looked limited. With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both tied down long-term and Pato O'Ward waiting in the wings, a future at McLaren - the team who have backed the latter stages of his junior career - has always been unlikely.

Fortunately, the 20-year-old has found a home at Sauber, beating out incumbent duo and Valtteri Bottas, as well as Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen for one of the most coveted seats on the grid.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest influences in F1 history played a role. Speaking to Blick, Ecclestone said: "Bortoleto's father thanked us for our help in transferring his son Gabriel to Audi-Sauber. We opened a few doors there. The important thing now is for Bortoleto to find a flat near the factory immediately."

The fact that Ecclestone is working away in the paddock at age 94 will be a surprise to some, but the former F1 supremo still wields influence, despite selling the commercial rights to the series back in 2017.

For Bortoleto, the pressure will be on to perform from the get-go in 2025. With an experienced team-mate in Nico Hulkenberg as a measuring stick, the F2 championship leader's credentials will be tested.

"Obviously as a young driver, you always want to be as soon as possible in Formula One," Bortoleto said after his move was announced. "But I fully trusted with my team that we would get a good opportunity.

"And when we spoke to Mattia [Binotto] for the first time, we had this conversation, and we were planning what to do for the future, not only for next year - and I think I was quite easy with it. I was not too stressed, and it's not going to change anything in my life right now, because I already knew that things should happen in the future.

"I'm just going to keep driving the same and doing my job in Formula Two and targeting for this championship that we're leading right now. But obviously, it's very nice to be announced and stop all these speculations here and there, and to just focus on F2."