Helmut Marko gets ‘I’ll prove him wrong’ response from F1 rookie over ‘B’ driver verdict

Gabriel Bortoleto has responded to Helmut Marko’s assessment of him as a ‘B’ grade driver, quipping that he won both the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles “against the Red Bull drivers he has.”

While Red Bull senior advisor Marko praised Bortoleto’s intelligence, understanding of strategy and tyre management, he said he did not see “that pure speed in him” – with the Brazilian responding by saying he hopes to “prove him wrong with time.”

Gabriel Bortoleto responds to Helmut Marko’s ‘B’ grade assessment

Bortoleto arrives in Formula 1 having followed the rare example of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri in winning the F3 and F2 titles back-to-back, joining Sauber to partner Nico Hulkenberg.

The Brazilian is also under the umbrella of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management company, with the two-time World Champion having declared last season that, of the F1 2025 rookies, “the best is Gabriel”.

Marko was not quite as sold on his prowess, however, and while he gave him a solid rating among the scale of those coming into Formula 1, saw him as lacking “pure speed”.

Marko said of Bortoleto on Red Bull’s in-house channel Servus TV:?“I would classify him as a ‘B’ driver.

“He’s a very intelligent driver: he won the Formula 3 championship, but with only one win and he usually stays out of trouble.

“In Formula 2 he only managed two victories. He is a driver who brings the car home safely, has a good command of strategy and tyre management, but I don’t see that pure speed in him.”

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Bortoleto said he saw those comments from the Red Bull advisor, and hopes to remove those doubts through his debut season in Formula 1.

In driving to his junior series titles, the 20-year-old also pointed out he came out on top against Red Bull-backed drivers in the process.

“I’ve seen that, and I love challenges,” Bortoleto responded to reporters in Melbourne, when presented with Marko’s comments.

“And I think, hearing that from Helmut, he’s a guy that has put a lot of talents in Formula 1, and has put a lot of wrong talents already in F1, so you can see he got it right and wrong and, hopefully, I will prove him wrong with time.

“But nothing I can say now on media that would change his mind, just my results on track, and I’m sure I’m going to prove him wrong at some point and, hopefully, he will admit this when I prove him wrong.

“But for now, I’m just focusing on doing my job and improving and doing the best I can.

“I’m proud of what I did in junior series, and I won in F2 and F3 against the Red Bull drivers he has – so all good for me.”

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