Audi's Bortoleto Asks Verstappen How Red Bull Built a Winner
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto reportedly asked Max Verstappen how Red Bull built a championship-winning team, hoping to apply those lessons at Audi.
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto and Red Bull's Max Verstappen are close friends away from Formula 1, according to Motorsport.com. The outlet reports that the pair are often seen racing one another in online gaming sessions.
Motorsport.com says it can confirm that Bortoleto used that friendship to ask the four-time champion how Red Bull grew into a team capable of winning championships. The Brazilian is looking to apply what he learns to Audi's own effort in the sport.
The report notes that this is Bortoleto's second season in the championship. It does not describe the conversation in detail, including what advice Verstappen offered or how he responded.
The story centers on a personal relationship and a question about team building rather than a race result, a contract or a team announcement. Its reporting does not indicate whether Audi or Red Bull has commented on the exchange.
Background
Formula 1 is the highest tier of single-seat racing, and its teams compete for both a drivers' championship and a constructors' title. Red Bull Racing has been one of the sport's most successful outfits since it entered the championship in 2005, and it has won several team titles in that time. Verstappen became the sport's dominant driver in the late 2010s and early 2020s, and his four drivers' championships place him among its most decorated competitors.
Teams rarely share their internal methods with rivals, since the gap between first and second can come down to small engineering choices, development philosophy and how a squad is organized. Still, drivers often learn from one another informally, through conversations, shared friendships and time spent together outside the paddock. Sim racing has become a significant part of that world. Professional drivers use simulators for practice, setup work and sharpening reactions, and online lobbies can bring competitors together in a relaxed setting.
Audi's involvement in Formula 1 is a more recent development. The German automaker took over the Sauber team and began competing under the Audi name as a works manufacturer starting with the 2026 season. Building a competitive operation from that base is a long process, and new manufacturers often look to established front-runners for examples of how sustained success is built, whether in organization, staffing or culture.
Why it matters
The exchange is small in scale, but it touches on something larger about how Formula 1 works. Success in the sport is often described in terms of budgets and engineering, yet the human side of building a team, from leadership to daily communication, is equally hard to copy. A driver asking a rival's star how an organization came together is a reminder that the ingredients of a winning operation are not always written down.
For Audi, the question is practical. The company is trying to establish itself as a manufacturer in a sport where the top teams have spent years refining their processes. Studying examples of sustained success can help a newcomer set priorities, although copying a model is different from reproducing its results. Each organization's culture depends on its people, its history and its relationships.
The story also says something about the friendships that form among drivers. Competitors spend long stretches of the season in close quarters, and private relationships can shape how they share information. Such ties rarely change the balance on track, but they show how the sport's competitive edges are sometimes sharpened in informal ways.
What to watch
Watch whether Bortoleto's interest in applying these lessons shows up in Audi's development and performance over the rest of the season. Progress in a new works project tends to be gradual, so the signs may be subtle, such as steady gains in organization, communication or race execution.
It will also be worth seeing whether either team says more about the exchange. Neither has been quoted in the report, and it is unclear whether the conversation will lead to any broader sharing of approaches between the two organizations.
Finally, keep an eye on how Red Bull's form develops over the coming races, since its results are what make the comparison appealing in the first place.
Viewpoints
Commentary from our columns: three angles on this story.
The Driver's Seat the enthusiast's take
There is something refreshing about two drivers who race each other for points on Sunday and trade laps in a game later in the week. Gaming sessions have become a social space for the grid, and they say a lot about how modern drivers relate to one another. Rivalry on track does not have to end at the paddock gate.
What stands out here is the question Bortoleto chose to ask. Rather than asking about lap times or setups, he wanted to know how a team goes from good to great. That is the mindset of a driver thinking about the next step, not just his current seat. Audi is writing a new chapter, and a driver with his eyes on the bigger picture is exactly what a new works team needs.
Enthusiasts will read this as a small human moment in a sport that often feels driven by technology and money. It is also a reminder that some of the best stories in racing are told away from the cameras, between two people who simply enjoy the same game.
The Pit Wall the racing and strategy angle
From a strategy standpoint, the most interesting part of this story is the idea of applying lessons to Audi. Team building is one of the hardest things to plan in Formula 1 because its results arrive slowly, and it is rarely clear which decisions made the difference. A driver's perspective on how Red Bull became a championship force could give Audi useful reference points on the pace of growth, leadership and priorities.
Still, the pit wall does not run on anecdotes. Strategy calls rely on data, tire models and clear communication under pressure. Any lesson from a conversation has to be translated into process, and that takes time. Audi's engineers will need to decide which habits fit their own culture and which would simply look good on paper.
The broader point is that every team on the grid is trying to close a gap somewhere. Whether that gap is in aerodynamics, reliability or race execution, the best organizations learn fastest. If Bortoleto's questions help push Audi to examine how it works, that could matter more than any single conversation.
The Skeptic open questions and weak points
It is worth being careful about what this story actually establishes. It tells us that two drivers are friends and that one asked the other a question about team building. It does not tell us what the answer was, whether it changed anything at Audi, or whether the approach would transfer at all. Friendly advice is pleasant, but it is not evidence of progress.
There are also open questions about the premise. Red Bull's success was built over many years, under particular leadership, with a particular set of resources and a fair amount of timing luck. Copying the outward habits of a champion is not the same as becoming one. Audi's challenge is its own, and some of it may be specific to a manufacturer entering the sport through a team it has taken over.
None of this makes the friendship or the question meaningless. But readers should separate charm from substance. The real test for Audi will be measured in results and in how the team handles the hard seasons that every newcomer faces. A story about gaming sessions is a pleasant footnote, not a turning point.