Oct 20, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas (77) of Team Finland and Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) of Team Netherlands walk back to the paddock after the driver’s parade before the 2024 Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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Valtteri Bottas F1 Return- Bottas Reassesses His Chance of Formula 1 Return with Red Bull or Alpine!

What does Valtteri Bottas think about his potential return to F1

Valtteri Bottas has been away from Formula 1 for one whole year. The ex-Mercedes driver is acting as a reserve driver for Mercedes and McLaren. Bottas was racing with Sauber until the end of the 2024 season. He has previously raced for Williams F1, Mercedes AMG F1 and Kick Sauber in Formula 1. Bottas was incredibly successful at Mercedes, although, his performance went down terribly at Mercedes.

Earlier in 2025, Valtteri Bottas was talking about his intentions to join the F1 grid in 2026 again. Bottas has been linked with Cadillac F1 for the upcoming season. Valtteri Bottas himself expressed interest in the upcoming project. In the recent weekend, Valtteri Bottas may gain a one week appearance in Formula 1. Aston Martin are having troubles with Lance Stroll’s injury. Bottas is one of the drivers who can probably replace him. Valtteri Bottas talked about his chances with other teams in a recent Formula 1 interview.

Valtteri Bottas Says He was “Too Late” in 2024

When Sauber was on the cusp of being taken over Audi, Bottas found himself out of a contract. The news came as a shocker to the Finn. Valtteri was considering being a part of the Audi F1 project however, it didn’t go through.

Valtteri says his team is in talks with other challengers of the grid to secure him a potential seat. According to Bottas, he has the experience Red Bull Racing needs for their second seat but he thinks there are people at Red Bull Racing who don’t like him. Bottas is more confident about joining Alpine because of their switch to Mercedes power units.

Red Bull? Alpine? 🤔

Valtteri Bottas acknowledges talks late last year as the Mercedes reserve driver eyes a full-time return to the grid 👀#F1 https://t.co/cTBcNCkmzf
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 9, 2025

“But there’s lots of politics in this sport. I don’t have tens of millions to pay for a seat. Depends on the team but I do have some personal partners that could potentially join me, but still, not to an extent to some others. Let’s wait and see a few races and see how things go. You never know if something opens up.”

Valtteri Bottas has raised some important issues prevalent in the sport in Formula 1. However, he will also have to address a personal issue when he returns to racing in F1. Bottas was hit with a 10-place grid penalty in his last race. He will have to serve it on the day he returns to racing in Formula 1.

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Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.