Sauber now ‘going to go’ with driver decision that could end Valtteri Bottas’s F1 career

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Sauber had another race weekend to forget at the United States Grand Prix to add to the misery they’ve endured this season.

Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have failed to score a point this season, with their best result coming on the opening weekend when the Chinese driver came within one position of scoring a valuable point.

Sauber last failed to score a point in 2014 but at this stag, it appears as though it’s going to take a miracle to avoid that fate again.

Unsurprisingly, this has made deciding their driver line-up for 2025 tricky.

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Nico Hulkenberg was signed from Haas earlier in the year and the German will be looking forward to Audi’s impending takeover ahead of the 2026 season.

However, he’s joining F1’s weakest team after arguably the better season of this career, which is unfortunate timing for a timing who has somehow failed to score a single podium in his career.

The identity of his next teammate is still unknown, but speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, journalist Tom Clarkson shared more details about what he had heard in the lead-up to the United States Grand Prix about one of the final vacancies on the grid.

At one point, it appeared as though it was a matter of time until Sauber would announce Bottas as their second driver.

Unfortunately for the Finn, it appears as though Sauber are having doubts about whether to continue with him beyond this campaign, while teammate Zhou also appears to be out of the picture.

Sauber looking at making F1 driver decision that will rule out Valtteri Bottas

Reflecting on the Swiss’s team conundrum, Clarkson said: “You mentioned Sauber, the second seat, Valtteri Bottas in the build-up to this weekend was saying there’s nothing more I can do, I’m just waiting to hear from the team.

“But I don’t know what your sources are telling you, but I’m being told that Sauber are going to go youth over experience.

“And whether they get what they want will depend on whether Franco Colapinto will be completely released from Williams.

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

“They don’t want him if he’s on a bungee back to Williams. And the same applies to the man who’s currently leading the Formula 2 championship, Gabriel Bortoleto.

“They will only employ him if he’s fully released by McLaren. They don’t want him on a bungee back to McLaren.

“So that’s what they want, the team, because I think they’re probably feeling, look, we ain’t going to come anywhere next year. Let’s invest in youth and see where we get.”

Franco Colapinto vs Gabriel Bortoleto could be battle for 2025 Sauber seat

As Clarkson mentions above, it appears as though Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto are the two most obvious candidates if Sauber go with a youthful option over Bottas.

Colapinto has the benefit of Formula 1 experience having starred for Williams since his debut at the Italian Grand Prix.

He beat teammate Alex Albon in Austin but already knows his options are limited for next year with Carlos Sainz arriving to take his seat in 2025.

The Argentinian is also extremely popular and could help build up Sauber’s dwindling following.

However, if Sauber want to activate a forgotten F1 fanbase, then Bortoleto might just be their man.

He’ll have Brazil’s passionate fanbase behind him who haven’t had a driver to support since Felipe Nasr.

Bortoleto has also beaten Colapinto in Formula 3 and had a healthy lead over the Williams man before in F2 before his promotion.

It may come down to which team is more willing to release their driver and how much it could cost, but the bottom line is that Bottas’s time in F1 might now be coming to an end.