Shock Valtteri Bottas to Red Bull move clarified after confusion sparked
A close-up shot of Valtteri Bottas looking on in a press conference with a prominent Red Bull logo alongside him
Valtteri Bottas is not on Red Bull’s radar for F1 2025
Valtteri Bottas was as shocked as those messaging him to hear he was linked as a Red Bull driver on the F1 store, the Finn saying there’s no truth to that.
Bottas contested what could be his final Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night after the 10-time Grand Prix failed to agree new terms with Sauber, the team instead signing Gabriel Bortoleto.
The F1 store got it wrong, Bottas is not joining Red Bull
Although there are still two places available on next year’s grid, both are with Red Bull’s F1 teams – the senior team and Racing Bulls. Neither are said to be interested in signing Bottas.
However, there was a brief moment earlier this month when fans, and friends of Bottas’, wondered if a deal had been done for him to replace Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen’s 2025 team-mate.
Bottas’ name was spotted under Red Bull’s merchandise on the F1 store website with the filter options on the left-hand side displaying ‘Valtteri Bottas’ under Verstappen and Perez’s names.
Unfortunately for Bottas, nothing came of it.
“Yes, I got some messages this week like, ‘are you going to Red Bull?’” he said as per Motorsportweek when asked about it. “I said ‘not that I know.’
“So, it’s, you know, it’s all the rumours.”
Bottas had previously been asked about the possibility of joining Red Bull given his past experience with Mercedes where Toto Wolff labelled him a “sensational wingman”.
He all but ruled it out, telling the media including PlanetF1.com: “I feel like there are some people at Red Bull who don’t really like me for some reason.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s an option. That’s my feeling.”
Bottas was again quizzed in Abu Dhabi about Red Bull’s lack of interest, saying he doesn’t understand why he’s not on their radar.
“I don’t know what I should say about that, really,” he said. “This sport is funny, sometimes not all things make sense.
“But, like I said last time, I know I could definitely do the job.
“But they’re always focusing on their junior drivers, because they’ve invested a lot in them in the past. So that kind of makes sense, but not much more I can say.”
“I mean, maybe you can plant the seed in there and go from there…” he added.
Bottas has been linked to a return to Mercedes, the Finn in talks with Wolff about taking up a reserve driver role next season.
