Bottas secures a one-year extension at Stake F1, revealed by a team boss in Singapore.
Valtteri Bottas appears to have clinched the final vacant spot on the 2025 Formula One starting grid… but only for a year.
A host of candidates are vying to become Nico Hulkenberg’s teammate at Audi-owned Sauber next year, including rookies Gabriel Bortoleto and the impressive new Williams driver Franco Colapinto.
“We are waiting for Audi or Sauber to come to us and say, ‘What do you want? What are you interested in?'” stated Williams boss James Vowles in Singapore (read more here).
However, it seems that an agreement has already been reached—with Bottas, the current incumbent at Sauber/Stake F1.
On Thursday, the Finn told the media, “I might know a bit more than others, but let’s just focus on the race this weekend.”
It was an anonymous F1 team boss who reportedly dropped the news of Bottas’s new contract in the Singapore paddock to Blick on Friday. And the contract is said to be for just one year.
Journalist Roger Benoit says his paddock source “can be trusted with such leaks.” Indeed, it was this source, he claims, who revealed the Sauber takeover by Audi ahead of time.
Bottas, who had previously pushed for more than a one-year contract, believes he deserves to retain his seat, attributing his nondescript 2024 season to the sluggishness of his neon green car.
“I feel like I’m driving better than I did at Mercedes, but obviously, it’s not as visible,” he stated in Singapore.
“I feel like, especially in qualifying this year, I’ve shown no signs of decline. On the contrary, we continue to improve with experience. We’re gaining consistency, confidence. We can solve various problems in different ways. We can adapt to the car as we spend more time in this sport.”
Benoit mentioned he did not know when Sauber would confirm the news, but Bottas seemed to suggest it would be after Singapore.
“There’s a good amount of time between this race and the next to continue discussions, and then we’ll see what happens.”
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F1 Team Boss Reveals Bottas’s One-Year Deal in Singapore F1 Team Boss Reveals Bottas’s One-Year Deal in Singapore
