Valtteri Bottas insists that he is still in with a realistic chance of remaining with the Sauber team...
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Valtteri Bottas insists that he is still in with a realistic chance of remaining with the Sauber team as it approaches its transformation into the Audi works team in 2026.
Sauber has already confirmed that it has signed current Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg to drive for them on a multi-year deal from next season, and the question is about who will be alongside him.
Sauber has already stated that Carlos Sainz is a leading contender for the seat, after the Spaniard was released by Ferrari in order to make way for Lewis Hamilton's arrival in Maranello.
While it's rumoured that Sauber have presented Sainz with a formal offer, he's also reported to be in talks with the Williams team - as is Bottas himself, who drove for them between 2012 and 2016.
Sauber could also opt to keep hold of Zhou Guanyu, but it's thought that the team is looking for a clean slate of drivers ahead of its upgrade into becoming the Audi works team in 2026.
“I feel like at the moment they want quite a lot of change in the team, probably,” Bottas told the media last week in Montreal. “Same thing with the driver line-up.
"That’s my how I read the situation," he said. "They are willing to wait for a long time, but I can’t forever. I don’t think I have the time to wait for too long, so that’s why I want to speed things up.
"This team is definitely still an option," he continued, pointing out that it had been his long-term plan from the very start to remain at the squad to see it into the Audi era after joining it in 2022 from Mercedes.
"Of course I was personally - and what I’ve been communicated within the last 12 months or so - I was always going to be part of the [Audi] project. But things have been a bit more quiet lately.
"That’s why I need to try and read the situation and kind of do my thing," he explained. But Bottas' case hasn't been helped by the poor form of the Sauber, which raced as Alfa Romeo until the end of last year.
While he scored 48 points in his first season at the team with ten top ten finishes compared to six points for Zhou and just four top ten appearances, Bottas scored just ten points in the whole of 2023.
And so far in the first nine races of this season, neither Bottas nor Zhou have scored points and Sauber is the only squad yet to get off the mark. Bottas' best result has been 13th in Monaco and Montreal while Zhou was 11th in Bahrain.
However the Finn remains confident of continuing in F1 for at least another season. "Obviously in this sport nothing is confirmed, so it’s never 100 per cent sure until you’re signed. It’s something you get used to, obviously.
"It’s a way more comfortable feeling if you know what is happening, but at the same time it’s kind of exciting, a kind of certain element of unknowns. There could be something new and exciting on the way. That’s kind of nice.
“At least how I see the situation at the moment, I’m not worrying," he insisted. "It should be an interesting week or two ahead for sure. [I] just need to live with the situation.”
An outside suggestion that Bottas could be recalled to Mercedes by Toto Wolff as one-year cover for Lewis Hamilton before 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli is ready to step up has been made by 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve
“They want a driver for one year. So who do they take?" Villeneuve speculated last week. “I guess Bottas will go to Mercedes.
"They take a driver who will take a one-year deal, knows the team, [has the] experience who can prepare the seat for Antonelli, and then Toto will pay a team to put Antonelli somewhere for a year.”
Clearly there's still plenty of developments to play out in the driver market before we know for sure who will be on the grid in 2025.
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