Gabriel Bortoleto has been announced as the latest rookie set to make the step up to Formula 1 in 2025, with the Brazilian having signed to race alongside the experienced Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber.
However, before his F1 journey begins, Bortoleto will be focused on trying to claim the 2024 F2 championship. The 20-year-old currently leads the standings on 169.5 points, giving him an advantage of just 4.5 points over nearest challenger Isack Hadjar ahead of the final two rounds of the season.
If he wins the title, Bortoleto would follow in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri in having clinched both the Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships in his debut seasons in both series. But how does the future Sauber driver’s career in these categories compare to those famous names? We’ve delved into the numbers to find out…
Charles Leclerc
Formula 3 champion in 2016 (18 races): Three wins (16.7%) / Eight podiums (44.4%) / Four pole positions (22.2%) / 202 points
Formula 2 champion in 2017 (22 races): Seven wins (31.8%) / 10 podiums (45.5%) / Eight pole positions (36.4%) / 282 points
Leclerc was the first of our line-up to seal the Formula 3 championship – then known as GP3 – in his debut outing back in 2016. Racing for the ART Grand Prix team, the Monegasque won the opening race of the season in Barcelona before taking a further two victories en route to the title, which he claimed with a 25-point advantage over team mate Alex Albon.
For the following campaign Leclerc progressed to Formula 2 with Prema Racing and a more dominant performance followed, with the youngster racking up seven wins as well as an impressive eight pole positions, which gives him the highest win and pole-scoring percentage in F2 from our list of drivers.
After winning the title with three races to spare, the Ferrari-backed Leclerc earned himself a promotion to F1 with Sauber in 2018 before replacing Kimi Raikkonen at the Scuderia in 2019, where he has continued to add further accolades to his name.
