Gabriel Bortoleto has been crowned as the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Drivers’ Champion after an enthralling season of racing in the F1 feeder series. In doing so, the young Brazilian has followed in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri by securing the championship in his rookie seasons of Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Having beaten the likes of Isack Hadjar, Paul Aron and Zane Maloney to the title in a hotly contested, season-long battle, Bortoleto is now Stake F1-bound facing the ultimate challenge in motorsport.
In 2025, he’ll need to draw on his experience more than ever, and there were a number of key lessons and defining moments in his championship-winning F2 season.
On the back foot
The season opener in Bahrain may not have gone exactly to plan for Gabriel – finishing sixth in the Sprint and fifth in the Feature having started from pole – but the Brazilian still walked away from Sakhir with a decent haul of points to open his account.
The following two rounds at Jeddah and Melbourne were where things really started to unravel. After glancing one of the Corniche Circuit’s infamous walls, Bortoleto qualified 14th, setting the tone for his weekend. He missed out on points in the Sprint despite climbing to a respectable 10th, then, only a handful of laps into the Feature he retired with a driveshaft issue.
In Melbourne, the luckless run continued; Gabriel was powerless to avoid a multi-car start line incident ending his Sprint Race in the blink of an eye. In a scene cruelly reminiscent of Jeddah seven days prior, the #10 driver retired from the Feature early too, this time with a hydraulics failure that completed a quartet of non-scores.
A turning point
Hampered by circumstance in the first three events, Gabriel refused to let the scorecard affect his mindset and bounced back immediately with an emphatic pole position at Imola.
Bortoleto astutely navigated Lap 1 mayhem in the Sprint to finish sixth, and during Sunday’s Feature he chased the fast-starting Isack Hadjar all the way to the chequered flag. Crossing the line second, he took his first podium in F2 and announced himself as a contender for the title.
The Invicta driver had made a long overdue statement of intent at Imola, and the best was yet to come.
Patience is a virtue
Another podium in the Monaco Sprint followed, but two Feature Race results at the other end of the top ten left Gabriel wanting. Nevertheless, he continued bagging points, race after race, and lost none of his motivation.
In Austria, his patience was rewarded. Just one-tenth shy of pole, he took the third fastest time from qualifying and from eighth on the grid in the Sprint, scythed his way past the opposition to take fourth at the flag.
After 13 races in F2, the Brazilian ace wouldn’t be denied his first win in the Stryian Feature. Applying a methodical approach, he took his time and got his bearings in the first few laps, before launching an attack on race leader Joshua Dürksen.
After his pitstop, he was clinical in his manoeuvres through the field. Once he’d dispatched Pepe Martí – who’d leapt into a net race lead aided by a fortuitously timed Safety Car – and the alternate strategy runners, he stormed on to a maiden F2 victory.
In Spielberg, he showed he had what it takes to fight for the F2 title, seizing the opportunity when it presented itself and knowing when to push when required. With a claim now officially staked on the Drivers’ Championship, Bortoleto was up to third in the standings and just 32 points shy of the summit.
A champion’s drive
More points came at Silverstone and the Hungaroring, and another second in the Spa Feature Race elevated Gabriel to second in the points, however, he was now 36 shy of Hadjar’s tally.
The mounting pressure of a title challenge looked to have gotten the better of him when the #10 Invicta went spinning into the gravel during qualifying at Monza, but such a blow only added fuel to the fire.
Undeterred by the slim possibility of points, Gabriel set about the mountain he had to climb. In just 21 laps of the Sprint, he climbed an incredible 14 positions and crossed the line in an unlikely dead heat for eighth, sharing the final point with Dennis Hauger.
That wouldn’t be the most remarkable thing to happen that weekend, either. The Feature would be Bortoleto’s finest hour, threading the eye of the needle through the Lap 1 chaos to climb seven places.
By the time of the first stops, he’d made it up to 12th and a well-timed Safety Car presented him with an opportunity too good to miss. With fresh Mediums on board, he exited the pits in a net race lead, but there was still the small matter of a gaggle of alternate strategy runners to pick his way through.
Five well-executed overtakes later and he was at the front of the field. In the second half of the race, Gabriel exhibited a relentless pace to open a 9.4-second gap to Zane Maloney in second.
As he crossed the line, the Brazilian became the first driver in F2 history to go from last on the grid to first at the flag. With championship rival Hadjar outside of the points in both races, the gap had been reduced to just 10.5 points in the title race.
Composed when it mattered
Like Jeddah and Monaco, the barriers of Baku are unforgiving and season-defining mistakes are mere millimetres away. Apparently, no one told Bortoleto heading into the final three rounds, as he looked to close in on Hadjar in the points.
Sixth on the grid put Gabriel in a position to challenge for decent points in both races, and he did just that, finishing fifth in the Sprint and fourth in the Feature.
At a challenging track on the best of days, he took risks when he had to – including audacious moves on Kimi Antonelli and Christian Mansell at the end of the Sprint and pushing for fastest lap at the end of the Feature – but delivered a mature and decisive weekend when it mattered most. With Hadjar once again failing to score, the Brazilian took a 4.5 advantage in the standings.
Gabriel Bortoleto: Your 2024 F2 Champion
Once again, Gabriel's composure and maturity were tested to their limits in the final two rounds, with an unfortunate penalty dropping him behind title rival Hadjar in the penultimate Feature Race at Qatar.
With just a half-point lead going into Abu Dhabi, Bortoleto kept his head and secured a pair of second-place finishes in the season finale weekend, while Hadjar finished fifth in the Sprint and stalled at the start of the Feature.
The 2024 season threw countless challenges at Gabriel Bortoleto; four non-scores in the opening six races and a last-place grid slot in Monza among others. He overcame them all to become a deserving F2 champion in his rookie season.
Now, his journey takes him to Formula 1 and the opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage of all.
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