Valtteri Bottas will depart Sauber after the 2024 System 1 season however is known to already be near signing again with Mercedes as its reserve driver from subsequent yr.
In what has been an terrible yr for Sauber – nonetheless 2024’s solely point-less group – Bottas’s place past the deal he struck when leaving Mercedes on the finish of the 2021 season, when Sauber was branded as Alfa Romeo, was threatened as plans for Audi’s 2026 arrival accelerated.
First, Sauber employed Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg in a deal overlaying the 2025 season forward of the Audi rebrand for the next yr, with Bottas’s team-mate Zhou Guanyu departing the outfit.
Sauber then entered a turbulent interval of administration change, with earlier bosses – former CEO Andrea Seidl and chairman Oliver Hoffmann – axed and ex-Ferrari group boss Mattia Binotto employed as chief working and chief technical officer. Pink Bull sporting director Johnathan Wheatley additionally joined to be Sauber group principal from 2025.
In Brazil final weekend Bottas mentioned doing a brand new take care of Sauber was nonetheless “what I am pushing for with Mattia”.
However over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend Motorsport.com reported that System 2 championship chief Gabriel Bortoleto has agreed a deal to race for the Swiss group for subsequent yr after it missed out on signing Williams-bound Carlos Sainz, its long-held goal.
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Staff KICK Sauber C44
Photograph by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Photographs
“A scenario like that is by no means simple for anybody,” Bottas mentioned. “However in any case the nice and in-depth discussions we had up to now weeks, we realised that the situations to develop this venture collectively weren’t met.
“These previous years with the group have been an unimaginable journey, stuffed with development, challenges, and unforgettable moments. I’m grateful for the joint experiences in addition to the belief and help I’ve felt each step of the way in which.
“Although it’s time to maneuver on, I’ll at all times carry a chunk of this group with me, and I look ahead to seeing what the long run holds for us each.”
Mattia Binotto, COO & CTO, Sauber Motorsport AG added: “We prolong our deepest gratitude to Valtteri for the previous three years collectively. He has been the embodiment of professionalism, utilizing his huge expertise to help the group’s development.
“Valtteri’s dedication and method have been invaluable throughout a pivotal time in our historical past, and the recollections of those years will stick with us for a very long time. In contemplating our driver line-up for the approaching seasons, Valtteri was unquestionably a key candidate.
“Along with his combating spirit, he ceaselessly pushed the automobile past its efficiency limits. Nevertheless, a call needed to be made. After open and constructive discussions, we mutually concluded that last situations couldn’t be met so we agreed that it’s time to half methods. Valtteri will at all times have an open door right here in Hinwil.”
Sauber’s determination means Bottas’s present F1 racing profession will probably be capped at 10 wins from 246 races, come the tip of the present marketing campaign in Abu Dhabi subsequent month.
However he might but see extra motion together with his former group, after saying returning to what he known as the “Mercedes household” at Interlagos was “for positive one possibility and I might contemplate it”.
Motorsport.com understands that discussions between Mercedes and Bottas have been happening for a number of weeks, with the squad set to area a group made up of drivers it has supported all the way in which to F1 – George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli – in 2025.
Though the trail again to the full-time racing driver from a reserve function is troublesome, F1 has had a surge in super-sub appearances in recent times.
This was turbocharged by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Hulkenberg, particularly, gaining a sequence of surprising appearances for what’s now Aston Martin after leaving Renault at 2019’s finish.
Harm replacements have been required elsewhere and this yr Williams axed Logan Sargeant effectively earlier than the tip of the present marketing campaign, though opted to exchange him with its junior driver, Franco Colapinto.
However Hulkenberg’s story is one significantly related to Bottas, because it was his common place within the F1 paddock as Aston’s reserve that helped him keep in common contact with then Haas group principal Guenther Steiner and ultimately to a deal to rejoin the grid as a full-time racer with the American squad in 2023.
It isn’t at the moment identified when any deal for Bottas to return to Mercedes is likely to be introduced, however Sauber is predicted to be confirming the deal for Bortoleto – at the moment a McLaren junior – this week.
