Max Verstappen's late-season upturn in form that has suddenly thrown him into title contention has been named as “one of the best comebacks ever” by Gabriel Bortoleto.
The Sauber driver is known to share a strong friendship with Verstappen and has voiced his desire to link up with the four-time champion at an endurance race in the future.
Verstappen has won three out of the last four races, while McLaren has seemingly lost the advantage over the F1 field it held earlier in the year.
The Dutchman currently sits 40 points behind championship-leader Oscar Piastri - a margin that was as big as 104 points just four rounds ago.
Bortoleto believes Verstappen is a real contender for the title with five grand prix weekends remaining on the schedule.
“I think what he's doing is incredible,” Bortoleto told media including RacingNews365. “It's one of the best comebacks of a championship ever done in history.
“Let’s see what he can achieve. He's been winning recently quite a lot. I think McLaren, they have been, they have been strong, but not as strong as maybe the beginning of the year, when they were one-two every round.
“Everything can happen. Definitely, he's doing an amazing job.”
After his victory in the US last weekend, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies highlighted Verstappen was producing “history in the making”.
When Mekies’ comment was put to him, Bortoleto replied: “Definitely, I agree with that.
“He didn't have the best car, or even the top three car, for most of the parts of the year and he has been able to be in the title fight for this long.
“Now they found out some good stuff with the car, and he's been able to put some good performances. It's already history.
“I’m not surprised that he has been able to do this, but I'm surprised that they have been able to evolve the car so much since the summer break.
“That surprises me, because it's not easy to do that, especially when you're already at a good level like they are.”
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the US GP and look ahead to this weekend's race in Mexico City. Max Verstappen being a serious threat for McLaren is the lead discussion, after his perfect performance.
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