McLaren has signed FIA Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto to its young driver programme.
The team also announced it has taken up a one-year option on Brando Badoer, the son of former Formula One driver Luca Badoer.The 18-year-old Bortoleto has become the fourth member of McLaren’s driver development programme. Badoer, 17, will be assessed over the course of the 2024 season and may join the programme at a later date.
The other members of McLaren’s driver development programme are IndyCar race-winner Pato O’Ward, Badoer’s Italian Formula 4 rival Ugo Ugochukwu and recently-signed F1 reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa.
Bortoleto won the Formula 3 championship as a rookie with two races remaining. He ended the season with a 45-point margin over Zak O’Sullivan.
The F3 title looked destined to go Bortleto’s way after he took victory in the first two feature races of the year. He then consistently gathered points over the remainder of the season, with only a point-less weekend at Spa-Francorchamps delaying his coronation.
Prior to that Bortoleto made his circuit racing debut in Italian Formula 4 during 2020, then spent two years racing in the Formula Regional European series.
“I’ve known him well since the beginning of his motorsport career and he’s got all that is needed on and off track to be a star,” said Emanuele Pirro, who took over running McLaren’s driver development programme earlier this year. “He also fits very well with our team culture at McLaren. I look forward to working with Gabriel and helping him develop in his motorsport career.”
Badoer is in his second year of racing in Italian F4 and is yet to win a race so far.
“I also look forward to working with Brando Badoer, who we sign as an optioned driver, as we continue to evaluate him over the next year,” Pirro added.
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RR
5th October 2023, 15:23
Good to learn that Luca Badoer achieved more than just endless testing for Ferrari.
Dane
5th October 2023, 21:27
Arguably more famous for his disastrous stint at Ferrari in 2009.
melanos
6th October 2023, 1:05
Was it Luca Badoer or Look how Bad you are?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th October 2023, 3:13
Ahah, that’s true. But who knows, sometimes the son is a better driver than the father and sometimes he’s not, if you look at the verstappens and schumachers, you could make a proportion and say:
Schumacher senior : schumacher junior = verstappen junior : verstappen senior.
Now, luca badoer was far worse than jos verstappen, but I wouldn’t rule out that his son could be a midfield driver eventually in the right circumstances.