Swiss magazine Blick’s experienced F1 reporter Roger Benoit says that Bottas’ contract would be one year. In his opinion, Sauber is opening a “nursing home”.
STT Sports,
Mika Halonen
Finnish Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas the continuation of the series has been speculated for months, as there has been no information about the contract with the Sauber team.
On Friday, the Swiss newspaper Blick however told Citing an F1 team manager source, Bottas has signed a contract with Sauber for next season.
Bottas is driving for Sauber in his third season. The season has been miserable both for him and for the team, which is the only one out of ten F1 teams without World Championship points.
Sauber said already in the spring that the German Nico Hulkenberg will drive in the team in the 2025 season. In addition to Bottas, there have also been several F1 promises from the young generation offered to fill the team’s second driver position.
King reporter furious
Bottas has previously emphasized that he wants a longer contract. He has said that at this point in his career, he wants a more interesting project than one year, which is presumably quite an “interim phase” for Sauber. Sauber will become Audi in 2026.
According to Blick, Bottas would have had to be flexible. Bottas’ contract is written by a conkar journalist, usually well informed about the affairs of the Swiss team Roger Benoit.
Benoit’s attitude towards Bottas is, to put it mildly, negative. “Good night, Sauber,” he captioned.
According to the reporter, one team boss wanted to leak the news to him in Singapore. He writes that the source is “unfortunately” reliable.
Benoit sees that Sauber will ensure with his salary that he will be very basic next season as well.
While other F1 teams want young drivers, Bottas is 35 and Hülkenberg is 37.
For example, Mercedes hired an 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli and Haas a 19-year-old by Oliver Bearman.
Benoit claims that Sauber would definitely have paid to hire the top name in the F2 series Gabriel Bortoleto or Williams’ excellent debutant Franco Colapinto. He hopes he is wrong about the news he wrote.
Benoit still refers to Bottas’ words at Thursday’s press conference. Bottas said that he “drives better than Mercedes now”.
– But no one sees it!
Sure, Sauber’s lousy car could also be the reason, but Benoit doesn’t write about that. Bottas meant that he is now more experienced, more consistent, more confident and more adaptable. He said that his true performance level is known within the team.
Benoit sums up the situation so that Sauber made a “cowardly” decision and is about to open a “nursing home” in its premises.