Valtteri Bottas has been an excellent servant to Formula 1 over the past 11 years of his career but finds himself off the grid for the first time in 2025.
After Sauber opted against renewing his contract he was left with few options, eventually signing a deal to return to Mercedes as their reserve driver.
Bottas endured his first-ever scoreless season during a miserable campaign this year, but much of it wasn’t his fault as he languished at the back in a poor car.
Zhou Guanyu scored Sauber’s first points at the Qatar Grand Prix which turned out to be the only result of meaning to them in 2024.
They have a new driver pairing for next season as the experienced Nico Hulkenberg is joined by reigning Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.
It’ll be their final year before Audi completes a full takeover ahead of 2026 with Qatari state funding which will help with investment into the Swiss outfit.
Valtteri Bottas followed ‘best advice’ Nico Rosberg ever received after Mercedes F1 return
Bottas has already had talks with Cadillac for 2026 as he eyes a full-time return to the grid with the sport’s newbies.
That will be a long-term project requiring a lot of patience to develop the team into a front-running operation – just look at how long it has taken Haas to produce a solid Formula 1 operation.
READ MORE: Valtteri Bottas has left the F1 grid with an amazing record that Max Verstappen might never break
Speaking on his TikTok, ex-McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley detailed how Bottas’ clever move to Mercedes related to the best bit of advice Nico Rosberg ever received.
“Nico Rosberg once said to me the best bit of advice he’d ever been given in life was by Frank Williams,” he said.
“It was that we always meet people twice in life. Effectively, don’t burn your bridges. A really great example of that is that Valtteri Bottas has returned to Mercedes as their reserve and third driver.
“If you think about the blow he received to his career, to his confidence, when Mercedes decided to replace him with George Russell – that was huge. He could’ve reacted really badly to that, but he didn’t. He kept a relationship open and above. He reacted in a positive sense.”
Does Valtteri Bottas have a good chance of returning to F1 in 2026?
Bottas could have a few options from teams who are searching for a little more experience heading into the 2026 season.
Namely, there should be seats up for grabs at the likes of Alpine and Aston Martin before the start of the new technical regulations.
READ MORE: Valtteri Bottas might have ‘spied an opportunity’ to stay on the F1 grid in 2025 after losing Sauber seat
Cadillac may be his best bet though with the team in need of a new driver who can be available in advance of their first season to help them prepare.
Having spent five seasons competing for championships with Mercedes, he holds some very valuable knowledge about how to form a winning operation and culture.
Implementing that won’t happen overnight, but there’s every chance that the Finn will find himself back on the grid for 2026 if he can persuade the American outfit that he still has plenty to offer.
