Gabriel Bortoleto reflects on 'the most intense battle' with Fernando Alonso in Austria

The 2025 Austrian Grand Prix saw Fernando Alonso (who is also Bortoleto's manager) and F1 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto fighting it out on the track. In line with this, the latter has deemed his and Alonso's late-race tussle as the 'most intense' he has had so far in the sport.

From lap 69 onwards, Gabriel Bortoleto was doing everything in his power to overtake Fernando Alonso, who was running in P7. He tried on the inside, the outside, and at specific sections of the Red Bull Ring, but was just unable to get the better of the veteran driver.

About the intense tussle the duo had during the last two laps of the 70-lap race, Bortoleto, via a post-race interaction via F1, said:

"We had a very intense battle. Probably the most intense battle I've had in F1 so far. You know, outside, inside, and then playing with the blue flags as well with Norris and then Oscar. Well, it has been a crazy one, nothing to say, you know, just a great battle."

Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto started the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix from P8 to finish in the same position, whereas the Aston Martin driver, Fernando Alonso, started his outing from P11 and made up quite a few places to end up in P7.

After the first 11 rounds of the ongoing campaign, Bortoleto is in 19th place in the drivers' standings (four points), and Alonso is in 13th place with 14 points, the same as his Aston Martin teammate, Lance Stroll.

Fernando Alonso's take on his Austrian GP P7 finish

While Gabriel Bortoleto deemed his fight with Fernando Alonso as the most intense in the Austrian Grand Prix, the latter shared similar remarks while talking about his overall outing. In line with this, the Spaniard also deemed yesterday's race as intense.

Via a post-race interaction, Alonso added the following:

"Yeah, it was, it was intense. Look, you know, the first thing was the strategy. I think the team was right, you know, and the one-stop strategy was the one to go for today. It was the fastest. I think I was not as fast as the Sauber or the Haas' and I still finished in front of them." (Via: F1).

The 2025 Formula 1 season has 13 Grand Prix remaining on the race calendar. The competition has been extremely tight in the midfield, particularly between Haas, Racing Bulls, Aston Martin, and Sauber.

As things stand, RB is in sixth place with 36 points, Haas is in seventh with 29 points, Aston Martin is in eighth with 28 points, and Sauber is in ninth with 26 points. Keeping this in view, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have a stiff job on their hands for the rest of the 2025 F1 season.

Edited by pranavsethii