Bortoleto favorite for Audi 2025, but there’s a puzzle. And Colapinto also appears

Mattia Binotto is looking for a driver

There is an issue related to the possible duration of the contract that gets in the way Gabriel Bortoleto And Audi Sauberone of the two Formula 1 teams that still has a seat available for the 2025 season. The young Brazilian talent, who in the F2 weekend in Baku completed the comeback on Isack Hadjar to take the top of the standings in his debut championship in the category, has in fact been part of theMcLaren Academy and the Woking team would be willing to accept the idea of ​​a dry loan for two years.

Having missed out on the main target of Carlos Sainz, Audi-Sauber led by Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley would therefore like to build the team around a talented youngster but foreseeing a contract for at least four championships. And this has created a stalemate in the negotiations between the two teams, so much so that the Argentine has entered the fray Frank Colapintowho impressed in his first two GPs with Williams after taking over from Logan Sargeant.

Bortoleto, 2 or 4 years?

The well-informed Brazilian newspaper is reporting the rumours about Bortoleto’s future Grand Prizewhich reported the news that McLaren would not want to release the 19-year-old from São Paulo for more than two years. A decision that the English team would have strengthened especially after the first private test on a Formula 1 carwhich saw Bortoleto at the wheel of the 2022 single-seater at the Red Bull Ring a few days after the Italian GP in Monza.

According to radio paddock rumours, the rising star of Brazilian motorsport would have received very positive feedback, surprising the McLaren engineers present at the test. Hence the team’s desire to free Bortoleto for the next two seasons, in order to allow him to gain experience in F1 with Audi-Sauber. However, the possibility of going beyond the limit of two years of loan is not considered, given that Oscar Piastri’s contract will expire at the end of 2026 and Woking could need a youngster ready to replace him.

Franco Colapinto Hypothesis

As mentioned, Audi instead seems intent on choosing a young talent on which to build the future, given that the quota of an experienced driver who can lead the team in the short term is already covered by the 37-year-old Nico Hulkenberg. The request for a four-year contract does not convince the McLaren top brass for the moment and second Grand Prize It is not to be excluded that the House of the Rings could turn to another talented young South American: Franco Colapinto who did so well in his first two GPs in F1, scoring the first points of his career just a few days ago in Baku.

However, the same conditions would also appear to exist for Williams. Concerns about the four-year loanas the Grove team would like to have a plan B in case one of Albon and Sainz were to leave the team in the near future: both, in fact, should have a clause to free themselves from ties with the historic English team should an offer arrive from top teams.

Valtteri Bottas doesn’t give up

While the hypothesis that leads to Mick Schumacher seems to be fading, Audi-Sauber remains in the balance between the young Bortoleto – who still seems the number one favourite for the seat, also because in the event of a victory in Formula 2 he would not be able to continue in the cadet series – and Colapinto on one side, and… the guaranteed used car on the other. In fact, the hypothesis that in the end the choice of the Ingolstadt house will fall on the confirmation of Valtteri Bottas cannot be excludedwho however has a rather substantial salary and a profile of an experienced driver not too dissimilar from that of Hulkenberg. The final decision should however arrive in the next few weeks.