Valtteri Bottas faces delays in F1 decisions due to Alpine’s last-minute offer to Carlos Sainz.
Valtteri Bottas revealed that delays regarding his future were extended this week, after hoping for a resolution about his F1 seat in 2025 in recent days.
Two other seats were filled this Thursday morning, with Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll respectively extending their stays at Alpine and Aston Martin, although Bottas acknowledged that the impasse in the driver market was still due to Carlos Sainz, the key domino to fall before the rest of the seats fall into place.
Bottas confirmed he is still in talks with Sauber as he seeks to secure a seat on the grid for next year, as the team prepares to become Audi for 2026.
Bottas is also in discussions with others on the grid with available seats (Alpine and Williams) and admitted that once Sainz – who has offers from these same three teams – chooses his F1 destination for 2025, he thinks the rest will likely fall into place relatively shortly thereafter.
“I was hoping decisions would be made earlier this week, but the delays have been extended again,” he said today in Austria, here pictured in discussions with James Vowles, the director of Williams F1.
Indeed, Sainz received a last-minute offer from Alpine F1 in Barcelona and thus delayed his decision by a few days.
“That’s it, one driver (Sainz) is always the key. So that’s the situation, nothing new compared to last weekend.”
“I have been active, less during race weekends because I want to focus on my job, but we need to start scoring points – that’s the main thing now.”
“But on my days off, I’ve been active with my management in different teams, including the current one, obviously, so I’m waiting for one element (Sainz) to fall into place, and then everything should happen quite quickly.”
“I have my priorities and my order, which I can’t tell you, but for me, it’s quite clear what I want.”
When asked why he could not pursue his priority in the order he wishes, Bottas replied, “Because someone else (Sainz) needs to decide where he’s going first and that’s going to decide, basically, how it’s going to happen.”
“At first, it was a bit weird that one single driver decides everything, but now, from what I’ve understood recently, there are reasons for that.”
“As you know, this sport is not always fair. There are also other things that matter, not just pure performance.”
Bottas confirmed that his future was “100%” focused on Formula 1, with no open option for other series.
“There’s always the danger of being without a seat but I’m still confident that I will be here next year in one of the teams.”
“As I said last weekend, I think in this sport, as long as you haven’t signed, nothing is confirmed – you can still have discussions and all that, but until the pen touches the paper, nothing is confirmed.”
“So there’s that element too, but I’m not too worried, at least from what I understand of the current situation.”
Sainz Offer Delays F1 Moves, Bottas Waits. Sainz Offer Delays F1 Moves, Bottas Waits
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