Sauber has signed Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto to complete the team’s brand new driver line-up for the 2025 season, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu losing their seats.

Nico Hulkenberg has already been confirmed to join the Audi-controlled team for 2025, and so the addition of highly-rated 20-year-old Brazilian Bortoleto to the experienced German outfit completes an entirely new line-up for the season ahead of Sauber’s rebranding. Under new owners’ name in 2026.

Underlining his status as a rising star, Bortoleto was a member of McLaren’s driver development program but will now be released from those obligations to pursue his opportunity at Sauber.

Bottas and Zhou have been in the Switzerland team’s squad since 2022, but their end-of-season departures were confirmed shortly before Bortoleto’s expected transfer was officially announced.

“Gabriel has already shown that he has what it takes to be a winning driver in the junior categories,” said Mattia Binotto, Sauber’s chief operating officer. he said.

“We are delighted that he will be a team member of Sauber and Audi. Together with Gabriel, we are on a journey towards success and will become a united force to shape a new era in motorsport for Audi. Nico and Gabriel represent the ideal combination of experience and youth, taking us strongly into the future.” positioning it this way.”

In a previous article X On Wednesday, Sauber confirmed: “After open and constructive discussions with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, we have mutually agreed that the conditions for continuing together cannot be met and that it is time to part ways.”

“We would like to thank both teams for their contribution to the team over the last three years.

“They are the embodiment of professionalism, using their experience and enthusiasm to support our growth.”

Chinese driver Zhou was expected to leave since the Swiss team announced the signing of a contract with Hulkenberg in April, while the experienced Bottas, who joined from Mercedes in 2022, was struggling to stay in the team.

However, in a separate statement from Sauber, Bottas, who announced that the current drivers will leave after the last three races of this season, said: “Such a situation is not easy for anyone. However, after all the good and in-depth discussions we have had in the past weeks, we realized that the conditions are not there to grow this project together.” we did.

Bottas recently confirmed that he was in talks with Mercedes, with whom he won 10 races as teammate Lewis Hamilton in the 2017-2021 season, about taking on a reserve role in 2025 if Sauber’s contract is not renewed. It is thought that the Finnish pilot also held talks with Alpine and Williams about vacant seats at the beginning of the year, but the teams turned to alternative options.

Sauber are the only team yet to score points in the 2024 season and will enter their final season under their current name next year before rebranding fully as Audi for 2026.

Formula 1 returns after a three-week break with the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will be held live on Sky Sports F1 on 22-24 November. Get Sky Sports F1 to watch every race live and more