Gabriel Bortoleto firmly rejects 'wrong team' claims in strong Fernando Alonso defence

Gabriel Bortoleto defended Fernando Alonso, insisting the 44-year-old didn't choose the wrong teams during his F1 career

Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto jumped to two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso's defence while being questioned about the Spanish driver potentially choosing the wrong teams during his long career in the championship.

Bortoleto, who is under Alonso's management, supported the idea that the 44-year-old should have more drivers' titles to his name.

"Definitely, yes. I think he is one of the greatest of all time, in my view," the Brazilian driver explained to the media ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix. "Unfortunately, that's how Formula 1 works. You need to be in the right place, in the right time. I think there are many talented drivers that have not been able to be world champions.

"Some drivers that were world champions... I'm not saying they don't deserve [it]. All of them deserve [it] because if you are a world champion in Formula 1, you are a very good driver. But, you know, it's not a very fair comparison. And I think Fernando deserved many more titles from the way he was driving. And he was very close to getting these titles anyway. Always last race here and there."

Alonso made his F1 debut in 2001 with Minardi and has since driven for Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine and Aston Martin. While some have argued that Alonso made some wrong moves during his time in F1, Bortoleto firmly shot that idea down.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

"This is not a skill. It's not a skill! You can expect, you can think about it, you can predict. But you never know. Maybe, you know, you get it wrong. Wasn't it Mercedes that won for eight years in a row? And then they got to the new regulations, and they got a completely wrong car. So how can you choose? You cannot choose.

"You can just expect a good team to be doing well or not. I think he chose very good teams. I think he went to... He didn't go to a team that was completely off. He was always in that top three, top four range. It's just that he didn't get the luck he needed. That's my view."