Valtteri Bottas had Williams as on option to go for, but the presence of Frederic Vasseur persuaded him to join Sauber and stay on due to Audi’s potential.
Over the weekend in Abu Dhabi, Bottas noted about it being a mistake to join Sauber which cost him three years in F1 and now he’s out of it without a seat. After his stint ended with Mercedes, he had options to join the Swiss outfit and or make a return to Williams.
The presence of Vasseur pushed him to join Sauber. But the Frenchman left the team after one season when he got the opportunity to join Ferrari. It was too late for the Finn to move out, even though he had the option to do so as per the contract he had signed.
He chose not to, especially due to the rumblings of Audi takeover. But the German manufacturer looked over Bottas to take Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto in the end. “It was a mistake,” reiterated Bottas when asked to explain. “You can’t predict the future, everything started well off in the first year, since then was downhill. But yeah, you can’t predict the future, that’s how it is.
“Just want to make sure the next move I make is a good one – and hopefully better times to come. There was Williams at that point [when I joined Sauber], so yeah. Fred was a big part, I used to work with him before. There was a clear plan and target for the three years and how to get there – but those plans and targets went into the bin when he left. We had a good relationship and clear targets.
“That changed a lot. I don’t blame him [Vasseur] because if you’re a team principal and have a chance to go to Ferrari, you go. Yes, for sure, but when he left it was quite late, only at very end of year. I did have an option that if Fred goes, I can go but… once Audi confirmed they’re joining, I was always told that I’d be the pillar for the project, and well, that didn’t happen, so that had me over.”
Bottas ran his own ‘What’s next?’ campaign which landed him a third driver role at Mercedes. He re-joins the F1 outfit who have lost Lewis Hamilton and Mick Schumacher ahead of the 2025 season. The Finn also has one eye on Cadillac entry for 2026.
Here’s news on Valtteri Bottas re-joining Mercedes
Here’s Valtteri Bottas donating his hair strand
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on awkward Mercedes time
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact