David Coulthard thinks 10-time F1 race winner has been ‘anonymous’ since joining his current team

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Formula 1 drivers are very rarely in a position where they have their pick of which team they’d like to race for on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari is very much a unique scenario on the grid right now, with arguably Max Verstappen the only other driver who could make a similar demand.

Carlos Sainz finds himself in a similar position with several teams chasing his signature.

However, the manufacturers offering Sainz a contract for 2025 aren’t racing at the front of the grid as he currently is with Ferrari.

There are a lot of drivers who could point to one move they’ve made – or potentially several moves – that didn’t turn out how they would have liked.

It’s amazing that Fernando Alonso has only won two world championships and has now gone more than a decade without winning a Grand Prix.

David Coulthard was speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast about another driver who has suffered as a result of their last move on the grid.

Sauber are currently rooted to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship and don’t look like scoring their first point any time soon.

Zhou Guanyu’s Formula 1 career is at risk of coming to an end as a result of this and his teammate will be getting more and more frustrated.

Despite having 10 Grand Prix wins under his belt, Valtteri Bottas is powerless to stop what’s happening at the Swiss team right now.

The season started with Sauber unable to get their pit stops right and even though they’ve now improved, the car hasn’t.

Coulthard has warned Sainz about his next move and told him to use Bottas as an example of what can happen when you make the wrong decision.

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

David Coulthard believes Sauber move has made Valtteri Bottas ‘a bit anonymous’

Talking about the dangers when it comes to choosing a new team, Coulthard said: “I think for Carlos [Sainz], you’ve got to go for performance.

“I mean look at Valtteri [Bottas], he was winning Grand Prix, not being embarrassed alongside Lewis [Hamilton], went to Sauber and he’s been a bit anonymous since then.

“Not because he’s forgotten how to drive but the car just doesn’t allow you to show yourself.”

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

Valtteri Bottas looking to extend his Formula 1 career beyond 2024

Unfortunately for Bottas, the trajectory of the Sauber team since his arrival in 2022 has been far from ideal.

He left Mercedes when it became clear they wanted to finally promote George Russell into his seat, although Peter Windsor believes Lewis Hamilton would have preferred to keep Bottas.

He joined Sauber – who then became the Alfa Romeo team – and finished 10^th in the Drivers’ Championship during his first campaign, scoring 49 points.

That’s in stark contrast to his current fortunes where after Logan Sargeant’s 11^th-place finish at Silverstone, he’s now 21^st and last in the standings this year.

Bottas does appear to be in the running for several of the available seats on the grid in 2025.

Williams have made Bottas favourite to partner Alex Albon next year as they begin to run out of patience with Carlos Sainz who has yet to decide where he’ll be driving.

It would be an exciting return to the team that first gave him his opportunity in Formula 1 and hopefully, he’ll be less anonymous at a team with ambitions to be faster much closer to the front than they currently are.