‘That’s insane’: Unseen radio captures Bortoleto’s shock as Verstappen crushes Monza
Max Verstappen didn’t just win at Monza — he blew the doors off. And somewhere on the cooldown lap, Gabriel Bortoleto found out and instinctively blurted what most of the paddock was thinking.
Untelevised team radio from the Italian Grand Prix has surfaced, catching the Sauber rookie’s live reaction as he realised Verstappen had beaten the McLarens by a mile. The reigning four-time World Champion took his third victory of the 2025 season — and his first since Imola in May — with a brutal demonstration of pace and control, winning by 19.207 seconds over Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri followed in third after some late team-order tension at McLaren.
For Bortoleto, who bagged eighth — his fourth points finish in the last six races — the result up front came as a shock. The Brazilian, who arrived in F1 having matched Piastri’s back-to-back F3 and F2 titles in 2023/24, has a good rapport with Verstappen. Even so, the scale of the Red Bull driver’s Monza win caught him cold.
The radio exchange on the cooldown lap tells the story:
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…”
On a weekend that threatened to be all papaya, Verstappen found a gear only he seems to know. The margin — the largest of the season so far — didn’t just halt McLaren’s momentum; it underlined that when Red Bull nails the window, the field still looks small in the mirrors.
Bortoleto, meanwhile, executed cleanly in the midfield to deliver more steady points for Sauber. It wasn’t a straightforward afternoon for the team. Moments earlier, he’d also clocked his teammate Nico Hülkenberg’s retirement on the trackside screens and sought clarity.
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.”
Hülkenberg had pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap with a hydraulic issue, ending his race before it began. Bortoleto carried the flag alone and made it count.
As for Verstappen, this was a Monza victory stamped in bold. The kind of win that silences the background noise — form guides, development curves, team-order dramas — and reminds everyone that the reigning champ remains the sport’s sharpest closer on Sundays. McLaren’s duo had the rhythm early, but when strategy and stint profile mattered, Verstappen cleared off and never looked back.
For the rookie watching on delayed reaction, the verdict was simple, and frankly, hard to argue with: insane.
