Sauber Moves May Mean End of the F1 Road for Valtteri Bottas

• Valtteri Bottas has been in Formula 1 since 2013.

• His strongest seasons in the series came as teammate to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, taking 10 wins and twice finishing runner-up in the championship (2019, 2020).

• Zhou Guanyu, 25, joined Sauber in 2022 but has scored just six points finishes in three years and has been overshadowed by Bottas.

Formula 2 points leader Gabriel Bortoleto's hire as part of Sauber's overhauled 2025 Formula 1 driver lineup, effectively means the end of the road for current driver pairing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Sauber will run with Bortoleto and current Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg next season.

Bottas has been in Formula 1 since 2013 and his most successful phase came as teammate to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, taking 10 wins and twice finishing runner-up in the championship (2019, 2020).

Bottas also contributed to five of Mercedes’ F1 Constructors’ titles and his tally of 67 podiums puts him inside Formula 1's all-time top-10 list.

Bottas enjoyed a strong start to his time at Sauber—then under the Alfa Romeo name—in 2022 but the team has faded across his three-year stay and it has not scored a point this season. The Finn, who has driven well this season in lackluster equipment, hoped that new management at the team would provide an olive branch, and would prefer to stick with a known quantity.

No other offer, however, came forward and instead the veteran faces the conclusion of his lengthy career.

“A situation like this is never easy for anyone,” said the 35-year-old Bottas, who is scoreless this season. “But after all the good and in-depth discussions we had in the past weeks, we realised that the conditions to grow this project together were not met.”

Meanwhile, Zhou became China’s first Formula 1 racer when he joined Sauber in 2022 but has taken just six points finishes in three years and has been overshadowed by Bottas.

“I am grateful to the team for giving me a chance in Formula 1," Zhou said. "This is not an easy sport for rookies, but the team has allowed me to grow so much over these three years,” Zhou said. “China, earlier this season, was without doubt a highlight, but so many moments, both in public and behind the scenes, are what I am going to remember from the last three years.”