Formula 1’s game of driver musical chairs is winding down.
Did Valtteri Bottas just unveil his 2025 F1 spot?
Valtteri Bottas is one of a handful of F1 drivers without a confirmed seat for 2025. Or is he?
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
Did one of the final players in that game just give away his spot for 2025?
As we wrote recently, only four seats remain unconfirmed for the next F1 season. One is the second seat at Mercedes, the one that Lewis Hamilton will vacate at the end of this season when he makes his move to Ferrari. Young phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli has long been linked to that seat.
Another is the seat at Alpine alongside Pierre Gasly. While Alpine made a late push for Carlos Sainz Jr.’s services, his decision to sign with Williams has the French-based team pivoting, and Jack Doohan and Mick Schumacher are options there.
The third seat still available for next year is the second seat at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. While the team inked Yuki Tsunoda for another year earlier this season, Daniel Ricciardo’s status remains in doubt for 2025. Will Ricciardo do enough over the rest of this season to keep that spot, or will Liam Lawson earn a promotion from his current reserve role?
Finally, there is the second seat at Sauber. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are the two drivers at Sauber right now, but with the team becoming the Audi works operation in 2026 they have already signed Nico Hülkenberg as a driver for next year and beyond.
Nothing definitive has come from Sauber regarding the second seat, and they have been linked with several options including both Bottas and Zhou, as well as Schumacher, but did Bottas just give a big hint at who that driver will be?
Posting on Instagram Stories the driver shared a few images from a racetrack, tagging Hyland, a cloud-based technology service that is one of Sauber’s partners.
Among the photos? An image of an Audi — one that appears to be a customized Audi R8 GT — with Bottas’ logo and number on it:
Now, this could be nothing or an innocent connection. Maybe Bottas just likes the car so much that he wanted one for himself? This could also be part of a promotional series for Hyland, as their name is on the Audi R8 as well.
Or maybe Bottas is driving at a big bit of news that will be unveiled shortly.
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