‘Holy s**t’ – ‘Insane’ Max Verstappen leaves Bortoleto shocked in untelevised team radio
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is the reigning F1 world champion
Untelevised team radio footage from the Italian Grand Prix has revealed the moment Gabriel Bortoleto was left stunned by Max Verstappen’s “insane” victory at Monza.
Verstappen claimed his third victory of the F1 2025 season, and his first since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May, in Italy last weekend.
Gabriel Bortoleto stunned by Max Verstappen’s ‘insane’ Italian GP victory
The reigning four-time World Champion won by the biggest victory margin of the season so far, triumphing by 19.207 seconds from McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Oscar Piastri, the F1 2025 championship leader, was forced to settle for third after a McLaren team orders drama in the closing stages of the race.
Bortoleto, the Sauber rookie, secured his fourth points finish in the last six races with eighth place.
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The Brazilian driver, who arrived in F1 after matching Piastri’s feat of winning the F3 and F2 titles in consecutive years in 2023/24, is known to have a healthy relationship with Verstappen.
And the Sauber star was left shocked by Verstappen toppling the dominant McLaren pair at Monza, describing the feat as “insane” over team radio after realising the Red Bull man had taken victory.
The full exchange during the cooldown lap went as follows:
Bortoleto: “Holy s**t, Max won?”
Sauber: “Yeah, man. I thought you saw that on TV?”
Bortoleto: “No.”
Sauber: “It’s Max, Lando, Oscar on the podium.”
Bortoleto: “That’s insane, man.”
Sauber: “Yeah, yeah.”
Bortoleto: “Woah. This guy…”
More on Gabriel Bortoleto and Sauber from PlanetF1.com
Bortoleto’s comments about Verstappen came just moments after he discovered that his Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg had failed to finish the Italian Grand Prix, having spotted it on the trackside TV screens.
Hulkenberg pulled into the pit lane to retire at the end of the formation lap at Monza after his car suffered a hydraulic issue.
The exchange between Bortoleto and his race engineer went as follows:
Sauber: “We are P8. P8. Well done.”
Bortoleto: “Good job, everyone. Good points. What happened with Nico? Why he’s out? I just checked the TV.”
Sauber: “Yeah, he had some issues that we will explain when you come back. A problem. He couldn’t take the start.”
Bortoleto: “Oh ****, OK.”
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