Valtteri Bottas is set to lose his Sauber seat for the F1
2025 season, with Audi F1 reportedly poised to confirm the signing of McLaren
junior Gabriel Bortoleto.
Audi F1, who will take over the existing Sauber team
in F1 2026, remain the only non-Red Bull team yet to officially confirm their
driver lineup for next season.
Valtteri Bottas set to be dropped by Audi F1
The Swiss-based team announced the capture of Nico
Hulkenberg from Haas in April, but were forced to assess other options for the
second seat after top targets Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon elected to join
Williams and Haas respectively for F1 2025.
Current incumbents Bottas and
Zhou Guanyu, former Haas driver Mick Schumacher, Aston Martin reserve Felipe
Drugovich, current Sauber reserve Theo Pourchaire and Williams F1 2024 supersub
Franco Colapinto have all been linked with the second seat at various points
over recent months.
Bottas, a 10-time F1 race winner with Mercedes, told
media including PlanetF1.com at the recent United States Grand Prix that he had
agreed terms on a deal to stay with Sauber for next season, but was still
awaiting a final decision from Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto.
It now appears the Finn is set to be left without a seat for
F1 2025, with Audi F1 closing in on the signing of 20-year-old Brazilian
starlet Bortoleto.
A report by German publication Auto Motor und Sport claims
that a contract to sign Bortoleto has been “finalised” with an announcement
expected imminently.
It is said that Audi F1 opted against announcing the signing
of Bortoleto at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix to spare the youngster from
excess media attention at his home event, with the Sao Paulo-born star set to
become the first full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017.
Bortoleto is the current leader of the prestigious F2
(formerly GP2) series, holding a 4.5 lead over Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar
ahead of the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The youngster, who is managed by current Aston Martin driver
and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, has been a member of McLaren’s
junior academy since last year.
With current McLaren race drivers Lando Norris and Oscar
Piastri under long-term contracts, however, team principal Andrea Stella
recently signalled a willingness to release Bortoleto to take up a race seat
with Audi F1.
Stella told reporters in Brazil: “Having the
possibility to talk about Gabriel, I would like to take this opportunity to say
once again how good of work he’s been doing in junior categories — winning F3,
leading F2 at the first season,” Stella said in the FIA press conference on
Friday.
“And this is to lead into the fact that I think it’s very,
very normal and natural that Formula 1 teams are interested in having Gabriel
as a driver.
“McLaren will not stop the possibility for Gabriel to drive
Formula 1. So conversations are ongoing and we will see what the scenario will
[be for] the future.”
It is unclear whether Bortoleto’s arrangement to join Audi
F1 will be a loan deal with Binotto, who replaced former McLaren team principal
Andreas Seidl as the head of the Audi F1 program in July, thought to be keen on
a permanent move.
If confirmed, Bortoleto’s arrival would likely signal the end of Bottas’s F1 racing career, with the Finn an ever-present fixture on the grid since making his debut with the Williams team in 2013.
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