Bottas debunks "fake news" reports surrounding a new Sauber contract
F1 News
Valtteri Bottas says that he is nowhere closer to finding out his future in Formula 1, dubbing an article "fake news" that reported that he had signed with Sauber for 2025, which will become Audi for the 2025 season.
For weeks, Gabriel Bortoleto looked like the leading candidate for second and final seat at Sauber in '25. If the current Formula 2 frontrunner was indeed given the chance by the team that is Audi from '26, it meant that Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas would be left without a spot in Formula 1. However, things can turn around extremely quickly in Formula 1, as last week it came word from Switzerland that Bottas will stay on after all.
There has been lots of talk surrounding the other seat that is available for the 2025 season, which will be Sauber's final season in F1 before they change to Audi for 2025 when the new regulations come in. Lots have changes have been made to the Swiss team with Mattia Binotto and former Red Bull man Jonathan Wheatley becoming the two leaders of the team from 2025 onwards.
However, after Nico Hulkenberg signed to be a part of the Audi project, the second seat remains available. For weeks, current Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto has been linked with the seat an to make the move into F1, meaning both Bottas and Zhou Guanyu would leave the sport.
It has been a tough season so far for Bottas, with the Sauber car struggling to bring itself close to the top ten, resulting in no points so far for the Finn. Bottas has spoken about the hope of joining Sauber, and therefore the Audi project, for the long term, but it did not look like the German team were too keen on the idea.
Bottas is confident of a 2025 seat
However, with the Bortoleto rumours quietening down a little bit, along with Bottas talking about conversations that he is having with Binotto outside of race weekends, the feeling is that the seat could be Bottas'. However, there have been early reports suggesting that he has already signed for another year, but the former Mercedes man is quick to debunk them
"Well, I actually heard about some fake news that I've signed already which is not the case. We're still discussing, and in this sport, until the pen hits the paper, none of this is confirmed, but my feeling is we should be heading in the right direction. But next week, we'll have plenty of time with Mattia, which is good, and then we'll see," Bottas explained.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen