{"id":31392,"date":"2025-03-13T06:09:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=31392"},"modified":"2025-03-13T06:09:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:09:59","slug":"bortoleto-responds-to-helmut-marko-b-driver-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/13\/bortoleto-responds-to-helmut-marko-b-driver-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"Bortoleto responds to Helmut Marko “B Driver” comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a> is one of many rookie drivers who will make their F1 debut this weekend. The Brazilian driver earned his contract with Sauber after claiming successive Championships in Formula 2 and Formula 3 – both times as a rookie.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, being a rookie does not make Bortoleto immune to the often unpredictable F1 media landscape.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview, Helmut Marko<\/a> described the 20-year-old as a ‘B tier’ rookie. Bortoleto has responded to these comments<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bortoleto unconcerned by Marko’s opinion<\/h4>\n

There is immense excitement across the paddock to see how F1’s latest batch of youngsters perform.<\/p>\n

A quarter of the grid (Bortoleto, Antonelli<\/a>, Bearman, Hadjar, Doohan) begin their careers as full-time drivers.<\/p>\n

Of all these drivers, Antonelli is undoubtedly the recipient of the most media attention<\/strong> and ‘hype’.<\/p>\n

In the context of his prolific junior career (before skipping F3 and going directly to F2), it is understandable the Italian is talked about so highly.<\/p>\n

Making his debut for a race-winning team like Mercedes<\/a> also adds to the special nature of his debut<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, it was Gabriel Bortoleto who secured last year’s Formula 2 title.<\/p>\n

\"\"
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 13: Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil. (Photo by Andy Hone\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He did so as a rookie, finishing the season with significantly more points than his fellow F1 debutants.<\/p>\n

Because of this, Bortoleto is understandably not in agreement with Helmut Marko’s suggestion he is a B-tier driver:<\/p>\n

“I think Helmut is a guy that is for a very long time in Formula 1,” <\/em>Bortoleto told the media.<\/p>\n

“He has put a lot of very talented drivers in Formula 1, in the past. But he probably put more drivers that failed<\/strong> to be in Formula 1.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I have, to be honest, respect for him. for the achievements of the drivers he put.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Like Max Verstappen, for me, is one of the greatest in the sport.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Everyone can have opinions<\/strong>, we live in a free world, I think he has his opinions about me.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I think I proved myself to be in Formula 1. I won Formula 3 and Formula 2 as a rookie.<\/em><\/p>\n

“And I’m going to prove him wrong with time<\/strong>, it’s just a matter of time.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 13: Gabriel Bortoleto. (Photo by Andy Hone\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A learning year at Sauber<\/h4>\n

To some extent, Bortoleto’s chances of making an impression in his rookie campaign are limited.<\/p>\n

Sauber are likely to be near the back of the grid this season. The Swiss outfit would probably be satisfied if they can pick up a few points in 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Regardless, with Nico Hulkenberg alongside him, Bortoleto has a very good reference to compare himself with.<\/p>\n

As a member of Fernando Alonso’s<\/a> Management programme, he is also in regular contact with the Double World Champion<\/strong> – who has mentored him for several years.<\/p>\n

Elements of Alonso’s tenacity were present in the 20-year-old’s response to Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n

His rebutle was direct, honest, yet mature:<\/p>\n

“Nothing I can say to the media right now will change his mind, because it’s just talking and talking.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But the only thing I can do now is head to the track and prove his argument was wrong<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Hopefully, with time, he will admit OK – my opinion wasn’t right and he will regret what he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But I’ve done this in the past as well. I’ve said things I regret, and I don’t agree with nowadays.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I’m not going to make a big thing out of it<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Bortoleto is one of many rookie drivers who will make their F1 debut this weekend. The Brazilian driver earned his contract with Sauber after claiming successive Championships in Formula 2 and Formula 3 – both times as a rookie. However, being a rookie does not make Bortoleto immune to the often unpredictable F1 media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":31396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,2072,345],"class_list":["post-31392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-gabriel-bortoleto","tag-sauber"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31398,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31392\/revisions\/31398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}