Oct.18 (GMM) Audi-owned Sauber will finally decide who Nico Hulkenberg’s 2025 teammate will be within the month of October.
That’s the claim of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, after the Swiss-German F1 collaboration missed its own September deadline for the driver news.
It’s the last genuine vacancy on next year’s grid, with insiders having left Singapore recently convinced that Valtteri Bottas had secured a new deal.
Separate subsequent reports in Blick and Bild newspapers, however, claimed the 34-year-old Finn had endangered his own deal by demanding more money and more than a single additional season.
“As far as I understand, the terms we have talked about are all ok,” Bottas said in Austin. “Audi should have a sufficient budget for that, so I don’t think that’s the problem.”
However, rumours are swirling in the paddock that Audi parent Volkswagen’s financial crisis – having fallen a reported 500,000 road car sales short per year – could lead to the German giant offloading its new F1 liability.
“This is VW’s biggest crisis since the early 90s,” one analyst told the Financial Times.
Bottas says he is still talking to new Audi F1 boss Mattia Binotto “every week”, but he also admits that the Hinwil based team has “options” other than him for the second 2025 cockpit.
“It’s not in my hands anymore,” he insisted. “I’ll try to do my best this weekend and hopefully that will push things forward.
“I think I’ve said before that I was hoping to have the contract resolved before Austin, but at the moment I’m still waiting. So I think it’s more a question for Mattia now, not for me. I’ve been told that there is nothing I can do at the moment.”
Binotto declared last week that Mick Schumacher is “definitely” still an option, while Williams boss James Vowles is offering Franco Colapinto on loan.
“I believe I should be in this car,” Bottas said. “That would be in the best interest of the team.
“I love Formula 1 and I want to continue so it’s a bit of a strange situation at the moment for me. In the end, it will come down to a decision between experience and youth.”
Bottas also hinted that Audi-Sauber’s dithering is limiting his potential options for a ‘plan B’.
“It’s heading towards the Christmas holidays, and by that time there are basically no places anywhere – either outside F1 or in other roles in F1. So of course there is a deadline for me and I hope a decision will be made soon.”