Audi now ‘likely’ to offer 2025 F1 seat to £150k-a-week driver ‘against all odds’

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Just four seats remain undeclared on the 2025 Formula 1 grid and one of those positions that needs to be filled is at bottom team Sauber.

Sauber will become the Audi works team from 2026 onwards although the giant German car manufacturer have already taken 100% control.

In theory, the idea of joining a new works team on the grid that will have their own engine supplier should be very enticing for drivers.

Unfortunately, Sauber’s inability to score a point after 14 race weekends this season has left them scratching their heads in the driver’s market.

Carlos Sainz was a key target for Audi but after months of waiting, the Spaniard decided that Williams was a better bet.

James Vowles’s outfit have only scored four more points than Sauber this year, but the stability and off-track progression at their factory in Grove made them a more enticing project.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm shared where Audi now stand in the driver’s market.

Unsurprisingly, their options seem very limited when it comes to finding a second driver to race alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

New team principal Mattia Binotto has his work cut out with plenty of important jobs on his to-do list after replacing Andreas Seidl.

One of his main priorities is finding a second driver for 2025 and it’s becoming increasingly likely that Valtteri Bottas will be that man.

The Finn looked set to leave Sauber previously with Seidl keen to drop Bottas before the start of the current campaign.

However, new management within the team may just give the £150,000-a-week driver a second chance to impress.

READ MORE: Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin

Valtteri Bottas increasingly ‘likely’ to be offered 2025 seat at Sauber

Talking about the midfield drivers next year, Mitchell-Malm said: “I did a poll on X, asking people for the strongest midfield line-up of this bunch from next year.

“Aston [Martin], Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Haas, Esteban Ocon, Ollie Bearman, Williams, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, and Audi, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas.

“And that’s with my best guess of what happens now [at Audi].

“It strikes me as quite likely that Bottas, against all odds really, if we think where it was at a few weeks ago, we’ll renew there.”

Mitchell-Malm then added: “He is an absolute no-brainer now. And it’s now likely. I still sincerely think if there hadn’t been the leadership change if Andreas Seidl was still there, Binotto hadn’t come in, and this news still came out today, I wouldn’t be as confident sitting here on this podcast and saying Bottas will still sign.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber from team principal to Audi future

Martin Brundle has already made Valtteri Bottas prediction for 2025

At the beginning of the season, Bottas admitted staying at Audi was his ideal solution for next year.

However, there were suggestions around the Miami Grand Prix that Bottas had changed his mind about staying at Sauber after his race engineer was replaced.

Given that Bottas and Seidl didn’t have the best relationship, the introduction of Binotto to the team gives him a fresh slate to work on that could see their partnership extended.

Martin Brundle predicted Bottas would re-sign with Sauber ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix and although the Finn is a multiple-race winner, it’s not unfair to say that he’s also now the best driver available to Sauber at this stage of the driver’s market.

Although Red Bull have stuck with Perez for now, it would be fascinating to see what would happen if Sergio Perez is dropped by the team before Bottas – or someone else – signs up to the Audi project next year.