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The berth at Sauber alongside Hulkenberg at the Swiss squad remains, effectively, the last unconfirmed seat for 2025.
Having seemingly been on the outer under the previous management, it’s now expected that Valtteri Bottas will remain in place.
The Finn joined the squad at the start of 2022 and had hoped to lead its transformation into a front-running team.
However, the team has instead struggled as its battled structural issues internally, which led to the complete acquisition of it by Audi.
That process is now well underway, but will take time to manifest itself on track. In the interim, Bottas and current team-mate Zhou Guanyu remain without a point in 2024.
Nonetheless, it’s believed Bottas will continued with Sauber beyond the end of his current contract.
“We’ve been in talks now for a while with Mattia [Binotto] since he joined and Alessandro [Alunni Bravi] as well,” Bottas said in Singapore.
“I can’t really share much. I might know a bit more than other people, but let’s just focus on the racing this weekend.
“At least there’s then a good time between this and the next race to continue the talks and then we’ll see what happens.”
More on Valtteri Bottas and Sauber
👉 Bottas confident of remaining in F1 ahead of pending Sauber exit
👉 Audi behind Bottas ‘sudden’ engineer change
👉 Audi confirms Hulkenberg as first F1 driver
Prior to the appointment of Binotto, all indications were that Bottas did not feature in the team’s future thinking.
That led to links with Williams, where it is known he held talks with team boss James Vowles, a drive that ultimately went to Carlos Sainz.
A raft of drivers were linked to the Sauber drive, including youngsters Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson, along with more experienced pilots such as Daniel Ricciardo, and Zhou Guanyu.
Ricciardo eliminated himself from the running with comments that he was not looking to move outside of the Red Bull family.
The Australian is under pressure to retain his drive, with Lawson heavily tipped to replace him at RB for 2025.
Impressive performances from Colapinto have thrust him into the discussion of late, though those efforts appear to have come to late.
A 10-time winner, Bottas’ renewal makes sense for a team in Sauber’s position.
In the midst of a significant rebuild, the 35-year-old offers experience and safety to the operation as it transitions into the Audi factory team for 2026.
As such, it’s also believed Bottas has inked more than a one-year deal.
While there are moves to place Colapinto at the team, timing appears to have gone against the Argentinian.
He has starred in his first two grands prix but finds himself in a position much like Lawson did with Red Bull a year ago where there are simply no seats available.
However, should he continue his impressive form, he’ll likely become a factor in the driver market again in 12 months time.
