Audi contender insists RB 2025 pairing 'obvious'

Formula 2 and McLaren junior driver Gabriel Bortoleto believes it is "obvious" that Liam Lawson will be given Daniel Ricciardo's RB seat next season. 

Bortoleto sits second in the F2 drivers' championship and has been assessing his F1 options, with Audi reportedly having shown interest in the Brazilian driver. 

One team which he views as being unavailable is RB, who have an in-house decision to make shortly.

Red Bull are set to make an announcement in September regarding Lawson's career, with the New Zealander wanting a seat in F1. 

However, for Lawson to be given the 2025 RB seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda, then Daniel Ricciardo will either need to be dropped or promoted to the main Red Bull team, to replace Sergio Perez. 

In Bortoleto's mind, it would not make any sense if Lawson was again not given a full-time seat by the Red Bull family.

“RB is still open, but we already know – is it Ricciardo there or is it Lawson? It’s kind of obvious,” Bortoleto told Motorsport.com's Brazilian outlet. 

“If they don’t put Lawson in, I don’t know what’s going on in their heads. I think that Lawson deserves it at the moment for having done all the development work for the team in recent years while he was unable to compete.”

Audi speculation

Bortoleto is reportedly on the radar of former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto, who has replaced Andreas Seidl as Sauber motorsport's chief operating officer and chief technical officer ahead of Audi's 2026 arrival. 

Of course, Nico Hulkenberg has already been signed by Stake F1/Audi for next season and 2026, with the seat alongside him yet to be filled. 

Two drivers wanting at the very least the Stake F1 seat next season are the team's current drivers Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, although Bortoleto is unsure if either will get the nod.

“I don’t know about Sauber, there’s Zhou and Bottas to leave, but I don’t know who will stay,” he said.

Bortoleto could very well beat both drivers to the seat alongside Hulkenberg, with the recent reports that he is on Binotto's radar having come as a pleasant surprise to him.

“That’s nice, to be mentioned by an F1 person, because that’s where you want to get to,” Bortoleto added.

“But let’s see what the future holds. I’m doing my job as best I can in F2, not in difficulty, but so that I’m ready to move up to F1. I’d say that’s my situation at the moment.”