Sauber set to make 2025 double driver announcement that spells bad news for Franco Colapinto

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For the 18^th race weekend in a row, Sauber failed to end their wait to score a world championship point.

Rooted to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, it appears as though it’s going to take a miracle for Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu to record a top-ten finish for Sauber in a Grand Prix this season.

This will be very concerning for Mattia Binotto who has arrived at Audi to run their Formula 1 project ahead of their arrival on the grid in 2026.

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

The former Ferrari man has some key decisions to make before Audi’s first official F1 car takes to the track and that includes their driver line-up for next season.

So far, Nico Hulkenberg is the only driver confirmed for 2025 and he secured two more points for Haas in their quest to finish sixth this season.

The German was phenomenal all weekend during the Singapore Grand Prix after qualifying on the third row of the grid and holding off Red Bull’s Sergio Perez for much of the race.

However, up to this point, Hulkenberg doesn’t know who his teammate is yet and a report from the Swiss outlet Blick has shared more details about who could end up alongside the German.

The report suggests that Sauber might be about to announce two drivers for next year.

They still believe Bottas will be a Sauber driver in 2025, although Bottas has said that news he’s signed a new deal isn’t true.

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

The suggestion is that McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto could be announced alongside him with a view to racing for Audi the following year.

Valtteri Bottas and Gabriel Bortoleto could be announced as Sauber drivers

The report suggests that while Bottas is set to join Hulkenberg at Sauber next year, they have another requirement for their reserve driver.

They want a youngster to learn from Hulkenberg and Bottas but appearing to be ‘ignoring’ the youngsters in their own academy in F2 champion Theo Pourchaire and Zane Maloney.

Audi want to train a young driver for 2026 and Gabriel Bortoleto is the driver they’re now lining up.

READ MORE: Who is Gabriel Bortoleto? F2 and McLaren junior driver’s age, nationality, stats and more

The German giants want Bortoleto to get a taste of life as a reserve driver and work behind the scenes for a year before stepping up into the car in Bottas’s place at the start of the next era of F1 regulations.

McLaren are said to be happy to release the teenage Brazilian although previous reports have suggested that Andrea Stella would also be keen to loan Bortoleto to Sauber for a couple of years.

Blick believes that Bortoleto will probably be ‘officially introduced’ alongside Bottas, however, this spells bad news for Franco Colapinto’s chances of staying on the grid next season.

An additional report from journalist Pedro Fermin Flores suggests that Audi have offered Bortoleto a four-year contract.

This has reportedly been accepted by McLaren but they have agreed to pay a level of compensation to the British team for the time spent ‘training’ the Brazilian.

Franco Colapinto looking likely to miss out on 2025 F1 seat despite promising start at Williams

After their best weekend of the season at Baku, Williams came away from Sunday’s race in Singapore pointless.

Alex Albon got caught out going into the opening corner but that ultimately didn’t matter as an overheating power unit forced him to retire.

Colapinto came within a couple of seconds of scoring another point in Singapore but couldn’t find a way past Perez.

Williams team principal James Vowles has been told he should be pushing for Colapinto to race for Sauber next year.

While talks have taken place, they appear to be very tentative and Williams seem keen to hold onto their unlikely hero even if he doesn’t have an F1 race seat in 2025.