Still in the dark as to why, Valtteri Bottas said Red Bull made their desire not to bring him into the team quite clear.

Bottas is a 10-time Formula 1 race winner, yet finds himself coming to terms with the reality that he will not have a place on the grid for F1 2025, after Sauber/Audi F1 decided to axe the Finn and Zhou Guanyu in favour of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as their new line-up from next season.

Valtteri Bottas got a ‘clear no’ from Red Bull

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock and Thomas Maher

Only Red Bull remain to define their F1 2025 driver plans, but this in theory would be an opportunity to a driver like Bottas considering Sergio Perez is stuck in a negative form spiral, fuelling speculation that Red Bull will look to place a new team-mate alongside their four-time World Champion Max Verstappen.

Bottas – who served as ‘wingman’ to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes from 2017-21 – could be seen as an ideal fit for the role alongside Verstappen, but he claimed there is a dislike from the team towards him.

“I feel like there are some people at Red Bull who don’t really like me for some reason,” Bottas told the media, including PlanetF1.com, following the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where Verstappen became a four-time World Champion.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s an option. That’s my feeling.”

Speaking after qualifying in Qatar, Bottas would expand on those comments, confirming that he did previously reach out to negotiate with Red Bull, but their resistance was firm and clear.

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Put to him that it must be time to give Red Bull senior advisor and driver programme boss Helmut Marko a call and get him on his side, Bottas replied: “I don’t know.

“I feel like they have lots of drivers on their programme, and they prefer them.

“Some time ago, we asked, and it was a pretty clear no, for some reason.

“I don’t know if it’s something to do with the past. I don’t know. But, anyway.”

It is looking increasingly likely though that Bottas will have a role to play in F1 2025, with a return to Mercedes on the cards, perhaps to become their reserve driver after Mick Schumacher recently vacated the role, effective as of the end of the season.

However, an advisory role to team principal Toto Wolff has also been mooted for Bottas.

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