Valtteri Bottas has revealed that he had talks with both Haas and Williams about a race drive in Formula 1 in 2025 prior to missing out on retaining his seat at Sauber.
The upcoming season has seen Bottas reunite with Mercedes as a reserve driver having been overlooked to extend his stint with Sauber beyond the previous campaign.
The Finn was known to have been assessing his options during the nascent stages of last year as he held discussions with Williams boss James Vowles about a potential return.
However, outgoing Ferrari racer Carlos Sainz had remained Vowles’ top target to partner incumbent Alex Albon and he turned down interest elsewhere to sign for Williams.
An outcome on Sainz’s prospects preceded Alpine and Haas becoming closed shops, prompting Sauber to end up as his sole chance at remaining on the grid for 2025.
But despite Bottas revealing that terms on a renewal had been agreed, Sauber opted to snap up Formula 2 champion Bortoleto to join Nico Hulkenberg in a revamped line-up.
Bottas, who still harbours the desire to compete in F1 again, disclosed that his management team also had a tentative conversation with Haas boss Ayao Komatsu.
“We were in very deep talks with Williams for a long time,” Bottas told RacingNews365. “That became my priority and, earlier in the year, we were in talks with Ayao for a drive with Haas.
“But I decided to put more eggs in the basket to go to Williams. Then that didn’t happen because Carlos and what he brings to the team in terms of the financial gains.
“Then I was left with this [Audi] project and it would have been nice, but I think the bigger people higher up thought a change is needed, including the drivers.”
Bottas thought he’d be central to Audi venture
Bottas’ initial decision to explore a move elsewhere came amid the recognition that Andreas Seidl was angling to replace him when he called the shots as the Audi CEO.
However, Seidl’s sudden departure last June triggered a “reset” to Bottas’ contract talks as erstwhile Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto was appointed to oversee the budding venture.
Bottas admitted Binotto’s choice to acquire Bortoleto came as a surprise, having been under the impression that he would be central to the Swiss-Italian’s plans at Audi.
“Coming to the end of my contract, I started having a lot of questions about the future,” he recalled.
“But I was always very confident that I’d be on the grid, because that is how it looked.
“For the board of Audi, the decisions like drivers for the future will need to go through them.
“And some people really wanted me, but then some people wanted a change and to bring in a young driver.
“It was hard because I always got the indication, especially when Mattia joined, that I would be the pillar for the project, so it was hard to jump 100 per cent into something else because I got promised I would have a seat.
“Of course, you still want to look around but you can’t commit to anything, so then I was just waiting: ‘Okay, when do we sign?’
“And that became a question on a weekly basis even though everything was agreed and ready on paper.
“When that was delayed, then I kind of understood: ‘OK, there is something going on here and it is not going to be good for me.’”
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