Bortoleto’s home race helmet carries Senna at Interlagos in 1991

For his home Grand Prix, Gabriel Bortoleto will don a helmet with an image of Ayrton Senna on the Interlagos podium in 1991. The Audi driver put on display Tuesday the piece he has chosen to commemorate what he views as his idol’s finest hour in Brazil, some 35 years on from the win. Senna took that race with almost no gears left in his McLaren, and could scarcely raise the trophy once it was over. Bortoleto has had that scene rendered in cordel style, the woodcut tradition of Brazil, and set next to an illustration of his 2024 Formula 2 title. “A special helmet for the most special race of the year,” he called it, one that speaks to resilience and to the tenacity of a dream. It is only Bortoleto’s second time racing at home in Formula 1. Last year at Interlagos he was involved in a crash in both the sprint and the Grand Prix, but this weekend he is looking to put points on the board for a team now under the Audi banner after the winter.