The more puzzling question is, why the pipeline slowed down in the first place? Brazil has never lacked talent or enthusiasm for motorsport, yet the pathway to F1 narrowed dramatically in the past decade, in a state of affairs that Bortoleto struggles to explain.

"I don't really know," he shrugs. "I feel like there was just a gap of drivers trying to reach F1, or having the results to get there."

He points to Felipe Nasr, who spent two years in F1 for Audi's predecessor team Sauber, as one who might have prevented the drought had circumstances turned out differently.

"He was great. If he had stayed longer, he could have been very successful and maybe that gap wouldn't have happened."

Nasr left F1 after a difficult 2016 season and has since carved out a successful career in the American IMSA series. Once Massa retired at the end of the following year, the Brazilian absence remained until Bortoleto arrived.

His emergence has coincided with a subtle revival of Latin American representation in F1. The 2026 grid also features Sergio Perez of Mexico and Argentina's Franco Colapinto, showing that the region's long-standing connection to F1 may be stirring again.

Bortoleto hopes that such visibility translates into something more tangible.

"We have so many talented drivers in South America, especially in Brazil, who deserve the opportunity to grow in the sport and try to reach F1," he says.

The financial barriers to the sport remain steep, and young drivers from outside Europe often struggle to find the backing needed to climb through F3 and F2. Perez and Colapinto are both backed by a coterie of Latin American sponsors, and Bortoleto says greater opportunities could be in the offing.

"I think my arrival in F1 has already increased interest in Brazil. More interest brings more visibility, and sponsors become more willing to invest in young drivers."

While Bortoleto carries that broader responsibility for Brazil, his daily reality is more straightforward. He is still a young driver learning the demands of F1 while helping build a new project with Audi, one that will take time before it challenges at the front of the grid.

The process, he says, is about patience and steady progress.

"I'm not a rookie anymore, it's my second year in F1, so just keep progressing. I need to do the best I can on track. I don't need to prove anything to anyone," he says.

Xinhua