Bortoleto's father, Lincoln Oliveira, is chief executive officer and co-owner of the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series. Bortoleto began karting in 2011 and moved to Europe aged eleven in pursuit of a professional racing career. His karting peak came in 2018 when he finished third in both the European and World Championships in OK-Junior. He made his car racing debut in the 2020 Italian F4 Championship with Prema Powerteam, winning his first single-seater race at Mugello and finishing fifth overall. Two seasons in the Formula Regional European Championship followed, with maiden victories at Spa and Barcelona in 2022. He then won the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship outright with Trident, becoming the fourth driver to win the FIA F3 and F2 titles in successive years following Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri. He joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme in October 2023.
Bortoleto entered the 2024 Formula 2 season with Invicta Racing alongside Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini. His campaign became one of the most compelling rookie title runs in the series' history.
He opened in Bahrain with a front-row lockout — pole position after Maini's disqualification — but was spun by championship rival Isack Hadjar at the first corner of the feature race. Three consecutive retirements in Jeddah and Melbourne from mechanical failures and a crash left Bortoleto outside the top ten in the standings at the midpoint of the first half of the year.
The turnaround came at Imola. He finished sixth in the sprint and second in the feature, chasing down Hadjar without being able to pass. Monaco brought further points. In Austria, he drove past race leader Joshua Dueerksen on lap four of the feature race, then overhauled Marti following a virtual safety car to claim his maiden Formula 2 victory — becoming the first Brazilian to win a Formula 2 race. He continued to accumulate points at Silverstone and Budapest, though penalties and an Austria tyre gamble that cost him a podium illustrated the fine margins in play.
His standout moment of the season came at Monza. After spinning in qualifying, Bortoleto started last in both races. In the feature race, a timely safety car deployment — just after his pit stop — allowed him to stay ahead of drivers who had stopped before the intervention. He drove out a dominant gap to take a last-to-first victory, the first in Formula 2 history from the back of the grid. He received the Mecachrome Outstanding Win Award at the end-of-year ceremony for this result.
The championship fight with Hadjar intensified across the second half. Going into Baku leading by 4.5 points, Bortoleto held on across two race weekends in Qatar where a penalty for crossing the pit entry line during a virtual safety car stripped him of a potential race win and reshuffled the standings to Hadjar's benefit. The gap entering the Yas Marina season finale was half a point — in Hadjar's favour.
In the decisive Yas Marina weekend, Bortoleto qualified second and finished fifth in the sprint, entering the final feature race four points ahead after Hadjar finished fifth. When Hadjar stalled on the grid at the race start, Bortoleto took the lead at Turn 1, was briefly overhauled by Joshua Dueerksen after the pit stops, finished second, and was crowned Formula 2 champion. He ended the season with 219 points, four victories, nine podiums, two pole positions, and two fastest laps. He won the FIA Rookie of the Year award and the Anthoine Hubert Award.
Sauber signed Bortoleto before he had completed the Formula 2 championship, with team COO Mattia Binotto identifying him as a target during his Formula 3 title run. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri publicly endorsed his selection; Piastri noted he did not want Bortoleto to experience the delayed Formula One promotion that he himself had faced after winning the 2021 Formula 2 title. McLaren released Bortoleto from their development programme to allow the Sauber move. He debuted in Formula One at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and scored his maiden points at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, becoming the first Brazilian to score Formula One points since 2017. For 2026, the team was rebranded as Audi and Bortoleto retained his seat alongside Nico Hulkenberg.