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As Driver Development Director Emanuele Pirro and his team started scouting for talent in the early stages of setting up our McLaren Driver Development programme, they spotted an unsigned young Brazilian racer in Formula 3 who appeared to be seriously quick.

Although not unheard of, it is unusual for the top drivers in F3 to not already be signed to a Formula 1 academy, but Gabriel Bortoleto had yet to be enticed by any one team and was biding his time.

Emanuele - a former McLaren Formula 1 Test Driver, F1 driver, and five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner - kept tabs on him as he worked through the finer details of the yet-to-be-announced McLaren Driver Development programme with CEO Zak Brown and our senior leadership team.

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to showcase his potential. The 18-year-old qualified second on his Formula 3 debut and went on to win the opening Feature Race of the season in Bahrain.

Following the success of his opening round, our team began initial conversations with Gabriel and his family at the Australian Grand Prix, where he took pole and a second Feature Race win to further cement his burgeoning reputation.

“Emanuele called me after my second win in a row,” Gabriel recalls. “He told me that it was not official yet, but he was joining the McLaren Driver Development programme and he would be interested in having me as a driver.

“I've been in touch with them since then. We've been talking and we found a very good agreement for both of us. It’s amazing and I think they're going to be able to prepare me very well for a future career in professional racing.”

Conversations continued throughout the season as Emanuele continued to watch all of his sessions and sounded out opinions on the young Brazilian from trusted sources in the paddock.

The programme was officially launched in April with Arrow McLaren IndyCar Driver, Pato O’Ward and McLaren Young Driver, Ugo Ugochukwu as two inaugural members, while the team continued to keep tabs on Gabriel.

The Brazilian continued to rack up the points, finishing every single round of the season in first place in the Drivers’ Championship before being crowned as champion at the season finale in Monza, with a 45-point lead on runner-up Zak O’Sullivan.

With the title wrapped up and Gabriel’s focus freed, Emanuele and the team began the process of finalising Gabriel’s deal and officially unveiled him as a member of our Driver Development programme in October last year. In signing with our Driver Development programme, Gabriel joins an illustrious list of Brazilian racing drivers to have been linked to McLaren, including Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna, and Tony Kanaan.

“It's an amazing opportunity that I've been given by Emanuele, Zak Brown, Andrea Stella and everyone at McLaren,” Gabriel says. “Having the McLaren structure behind me can be very important.

“I have very important people behind me, very good engineers who are working in Formula 1, and I can learn from them and from the other drivers at McLaren as well. Having Emanuele with me, who is the Director of the Driver Development programme, and an ex-driver who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times, is very important as well. He has plenty of experience he can share with me.”

As a member of our Driver Development programme, Gabriel will speak regularly with Emanuele, who will continue to watch all of his sessions, offering him support and advice. He’ll also be able to learn from our team’s experience and, when ready, he will be integrated into the wider McLaren Racing setup, working with our various teams, and gaining access to simulator sessions.

“The main goal and main benefit for me will be to learn,” he continued. “I will be able to see and hear a lot of different things from drivers in other categories and from people at McLaren. I think I am going to be able to learn a lot from the McLaren Driver Development programme and from being in this team. I can learn so many things and it will be special for my career.”

After winning Formula 3, Gabriel will continue to race on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends, graduating to Formula 2 for 2024 with Invicta Racing, who have previously run the likes of Zhou Guanyu, Callum Ilott, Jack Doohan, and Felipe Drugovich in F2.

Asked what fans can expect from him, Gabriel replied: “Firstly, I think the team will be able to benefit me more than what I will benefit them, but I will dedicate myself to helping the team as well however I can, in whatever way they need. I am fully committed.  

“On track, I think I am quite an aggressive driver when I need to be, but at the same time, I am also smart when I need to be – like if I am fighting for a championship. I think I am good at switching and adapting to situations quickly. I like driving in damp conditions, when the track is drying up and you’re on slick tyres, I think that is very cool.”

The Formula 2 season started on Thursday, 29 February in Bahrain, and will span 14 Rounds in total. Gabriel finished second  on his F2 Qualifying debut – the same result he scored on his F3 Qualifying debut - but was later promoted to first following a post-Qualifying disqualification for Kush Maini.  The Brazilian then finished sixth and fifth in the two races, collecting 15 points in total. 

“I think it was a decent qualifying - it was my first in Formula 2, and so it is not a bad result,” says Gabriel, speaking before his promotion, on his way back from Qualifying. “For sure, I wanted to be P1, and I think we had the potential to be there.

“My lap was okay and I am happy with how the weekend has been going. The changes that we made for quali worked well and now it is time to focus and analyse the data for the races, which are different in Formula 2 compared to Formula 3. I am looking forward to it and excited.”

Gabriel's season will continue this weekend in Saudi Arabia. Details on where you can watch Gabriel’s races can be found on the F2 website, here.