Bottas is out of contract at the end of the season and fighting to retain his drive with Sauber.

Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg have been heavily linked with the Swiss operation, which will become the factory Audi team for 2026.

Where that leaves the Finn for next season is unclear in what is an especially turbulent driver market.

“I feel like things will start happening quite soon,” Bottas said of this year’s driver market.

“Like now obviously Fernando has decided to stay, so that’s that done.

“And actually, there’s not that many falling pieces anywhere, but of course there’s questions on certain drivers – like what is Carlos going to do? What’s Mercedes going to do?

“So I would say, ideally, within the next weeks, things are starting to get sorted.

“[I’m] working on it, sure, and talks have started.”

Ferrari and McLaren are the only two teams to have their full driver lineups locked away, with Lance Stroll expected to be confirmed alongside Aston Martin in the coming days.

However, that leaves openings at Red Bull Racing, Mercedes, Alpine, Williams, RB, and Haas in addition to the two seats at Sauber.

Realistically, Red Bull Racing will opt for Perez, or promote from within if it fails to secure Sainz, while Mercedes looks likely to sign Kimi Antonelli.

At Alpine, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly seem unlikely to have better options and therefore look likely to continue with the Enstone operation.

Williams has Alex Albon under contract but potentially has an opening alongside the Thai-licensed driver in the seat currently occupied by Logan Sargeant.

In his second season of F1, the American has not made the progress hoped and it’s widely expected that he’ll make way next season.

That could offer a harbour for Bottas, though Jack Doohan has also been seen in conversation with team boss James Vowles. Antonelli is also a possibility, depending on what Mercedes decides to do.

RB is almost certainly a closed shop given the drivers available within the Red Bull programme in addition to Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, leaving Haas as the only other option.

Oliver Bearman is widely expected to drop in at Haas’ courtesy of its close relationship with Ferrari, with Kevin Magnussen a good chance of hanging on to his seat for at least another year.

The wildcard is Sainz.

Should the Spaniard reject the Sauber deal the knock-on effect will be significant as it would signal Sergio Perez out of the drive at Red Bull Racing.

While that takes one highly credentialled driver off the market, it simply replaces him with another.