Valtteri Bottas Demands Respect From Sauber as His F1 Future Gets “Unnerving”

Since Sauber will transition into a works Audi team from 2026 onwards, a lot has been happening behind the scenes. Sauber/Audi are yet to confirm their driver line-up for 2025, with only Nico Hulkenberg announced. As time continues to pass by, Valtteri Bottas has delivered a wake-up call to the team to make their minds up about his future.

In case Sauber are not interested in retaining Bottas, the Finnish driver will also need time to seek a seat elsewhere. Moreover, as more and more teams announce their line-ups, the options for Bottas continue to reduce. As a result, Bottas finds the situation unnerving.

As quoted by Formula Passion, Bottas said, “I’m getting to the point that sooner or later, as everyone knows, if things drag on after the August break it can start to become quite unnerving”. The Finnish driver then also demanded respect from Sauber.

“It’s part of the business, of course, but I also want to be in a place where I am respected, where all the people know what I can achieve and give to the team,” he added. Although Bottas is confident of landing a seat for the 2025 campaign, it seems unlikely he will get a seat elsewhere if Sauber decide against retaining him.

As things stand, both Williams and Haas have finalized their driver lineups – both being teams that Bottas was linked with. Furthermore, even Alpine don’t seem to consider Bottas as their first choice to replace Esteban Ocon. Instead, their reserve driver Jack Doohan is the favorite to replace the Frenchman.