– This is how motorsport works. Sometimes it’s harder to show what you know, Valtteri Bottas stated also known as the F1 journalist face of the Netflix documentary series by Chris Medland in an interview last week in China.
At the same time, Bottas admitted the harsh truth to Medland, who writes for the Racer website.
Sauber’s team problems could affect his market value. Even in the period when the market value should be at its peak.
The Finn has a lot at stake this season. Bottas’ contract with Sauber is about to expire and his F1 career is about to end.
When it was last raced in Shanghai five years ago, Bottas was on the rise, leading the entire F1 series and fighting for the championship. Now he has a total of zero points after five races.
The reason is largely in Sauber’s own actions, and not in Bottakses. This season, the team has been extremely bad in pit stops and many opportunities for points have melted into it.
Even though the exceptionally long pit stops have made headlines, Sauber has already sanded down the Finn’s time.
Bottas got a lot of flack for what he did last season, but in the name of truth, especially at the end of the season, Sauber had a tactical hack and the car suffered technical faults. If this did not happen, then, for example, a competitor could have ruined the Finnish competition.
The Finn’s previous race weekend that can be counted as clean is ten races ago at the beginning of last October in Qatar and the previous one at the beginning of September in Monza.
So what does Valtteri Bottas’ future look like? In this story, we go through our F1 experts Jukka Mildhin with different options.
1. The hottest driver in the F1 series affects Bottas’ fate
Valtteri Bottas himself already stated last year that he wants to continue in 2026 in Sauber, which will change to Audi. However, there have been various media rumors for Audi, and Bottas has not seen a future in the team.
In terms of Bottas’ goal, what the Spaniard does plays a very significant role Carlos Sainz. He will have to leave Ferrari after the season that ends, because Ferrari already secured the seven-time world champion for next season Lewis Hamilton.
Originally, Sainz was rumored to be moving on to build an Audi project for Sauber next season. For example, in the Swiss media, Sainz has been considered as Sauber’s driver next season. By his father Carlos Sainz with senior has strong ties to Audi.
The motorsport legend won, for example, the iconic Dakar rally with an Audi car at the beginning of the year.
However, the boy Sainz has been stronger than Ferrari’s own golden boy since the beginning of the season Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz is now the hottest driver in the series in terms of the F1 driver market.
Before the race weekend in China, the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport newsthat Sainz would be going to Mercedes.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in turn confused the place last weekend by telling, that they have also spoken with Sainz. However, according to Marko, Audi has offered a multi-year and lucrative contract to Sainz, which Red Bull cannot respond to.
If Sainz does not join Audi’s bandwagon, it would naturally give Bottas better opportunities to continue his career.
In Jukka Mildh’s opinion, Sainz, who will turn 30 years old in September, should basically join a better team than Ferrari. Then the only options would be Mercedes or Red Bull.
The Audi option would require a lot of patience and time from the Spaniard, because there would be no immediate success.
Mildh also reminds that Sainz is a graduate of Red Bull’s junior program, so there is a previous connection to the team. Max Verstappen and Sainz were also teammates at the start of both their F1 careers in the mid-2010s at Toro Rosso.
– Entry to Red Bull is required by Sergio Perez failure, but Sainz could be good there. Still, he would be overshadowed by Verstappen. Red Bull would be a big risk in that sense. Sainz still needs to go to a decent team, Mildh assesses the situation as a mess.
2. Chinese money and desire for Germany threaten Bottas
Swiss media by Audi would hire a German as its second driver Nico Hülkenberg.
Hülkenberg, who is now driving Haas, has said that he already discussed a possible departure to Audi in the middle of last year. Mildh evaluates Bottas and Hülkenberg as fairly equal options for Audi.
– Hülkenberg is in very good shape. He could bring a lot to the development work like Valtteri. Both also have adequate performance. I don’t think that Germanness would still matter a lot. He is a big name, but not the name with the sharpest tip, Mildh estimates.
Earlier on the part of the car manufacturer Audi’s top management has also publicly wished for a German driver for the F1 team. Hülkenberg and Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl are also old acquaintances. It can play in a tight spot into Hülkenberg’s bag.
Bottas’ current teammate Guanyu Zhou has been left out of the speculation, but he too is still fighting for his F1 future. The Finn has recently clearly taken the scepter of the team’s best driver, but Zhou has the advantage of citizenship over Bottas.
China is Audi’s most important market. Therefore, a Chinese driver in its F1 team would be a huge deal commercially. Events after the Chinese GP also proved Zhou’s off-track value.
After the race, the main straight is usually reserved for the top three’s celebrations, but on Sunday, Zhou, who drove his first F1 race in his home country, was also driven there.
– It was a very special situation when Zhou was put on a pedestal like that. Zhou is also a big threat. He has really big resources in the background and could even buy his place in a stable, Mildh estimates.
According to the expert, the money alone is still not enough for Audi, but Zhou will hardly be without a place to drive in formula one.
– Zhou is certainly a big piece in the driver puzzle as a whole, Mildh emphasizes.
3. Returning to the top stables is difficult
So what if the road doesn’t open for Audi? Could it be possible for ten-time race winner Bottas to return to the top team? Sky Sports’ F1 pundit Karun Chandhok just after Hamilton’s surprise move, wildly speculated that Bottas could return to Mercedes.
In media speculation, the team has arranged for an Italian super promise to replace Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen named after, Kimi Antonellia. However, it is still unclear whether Antonelli could defect directly to Mercedes next season from the F2 series or whether he would be made to increase the rate of George Russell like Williams, for example.
Because of Antonelli, it has been considered possible to get to Mercedes only with a one-year contract.
Bottas, on the other hand, lined up the former F1 commentator before the start of the season Oskari Saaren in the Oskarin arki podcast that he no longer wants to sign one-year contracts with Mercedes.
This is why Bottas’ return to Mercedes seems difficult.
– Such policies can be drawn, but one-year contracts must be considered if you want to stay in the Formula Ones, Jukka Mildh reminds.
Even Red Bull, the number one team at the moment, could in principle have a place open next to Max Verstappen, because the contract of Sergio Perez, who was criticized last year in particular, is about to expire.
Helmut Marko however told in Chinathat in his current state Perez is the best option for Red Bull’s second driver next year.
4. Other options worse than Audi
In addition to Sauber, Alpine, Haas and Racing Bulls both driver positions are still open. Of these teams, Racing Bulls has a Japanese one Yuki Tsunoda there is certainly a future in formula one. If Daniel Ricciardo want to replace, then the stable’s own close circle has already been upset as an option last season Liam Lawson.
In Bottas’ former team, Williams has one spot open by Alex Albon alongside. Compared to expectations, Alpine has had a weaker early season than even Sauber. The French team’s preparation for this season went completely wrong and it has shown on the track.
French drivers Pierre Gaslyn and Esteban Ocon too sometimes, at least according to the media, there is thought to be friction.
Mildh does not directly warm to any of the listed options. Alpine could be the best backup option.
– Alpine is pretty messed up at the moment, but there are resources there. I would completely rule out Williams. There is no way they can develop sufficiently for Bottas. Haas is a good idea, but the team should take a big leap in terms of competence, Mildh estimates.
There may be other suitors for Haas as well, such as the one who made a sensational debut at Ferrari this season Oliver Bearman. The emergence of youngsters like him, Antonelli and Lawson means, in the big picture, that the living space of giants like Bottas in formula one is narrowing.
At the end of the day, Audi is still the best option for Bottas, although based on F1 history, new car brands entering the series always have their own risks.
In Finland, it is therefore worth hoping that Sainz will move to somewhere other than Audi. Of course, that is not necessarily enough, even though Bottas has his own trump cards with his top team experience from Mercedes and his reputation as a team player.
According to the expert, Bottas should have two to three different options for continuing his F1 career.
– I hope that Valtteri does not have to make any desperate decisions. I don’t think that will happen. In that sense, the situation is excellent, that Valtteri positively has fire and spunk in what he does. The data then tells everything about the driving, even though the team currently determines more of Bottas’ results than the driver himself, Jukka Mildh’s line.