Formula 1 pundit Jennie Gow claims Valtteri Bottas would be the ideal driver to join Red Bull as the second driver to Max Verstappen.
Bottas currently has no seat for the 2025 F1 season after it was confirmed on Wednesday that he would be leaving Sauber at the end of the 2024 season.
The Finnish driver joined Sauber back at the start of the 2022 season after spending five seasons with Mercedes, in which he won 10 races and achieved 58 podium finishes with the Silver Arrows.
Bottas is being replaced by the current Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto for next season, however, Gow reckons the 35-year-old still has a chance to stay in F1 with a full-time seat on the grid.
Speaking on The Fast And The Curious podcast, she said: “If I said the words to you, ‘Valtteri Bottas joins Red Bull’, would you find that totally weird?
“Just say Red Bull were looking for a stop gap for that second seat.
“If you looked at second drivers, someone who would just sit in that seat, do what they’ve been asked to do.
“He’s fast, we know that, he plays the team game very well.
“If they were looking for a stop gap, so they didn’t expose their younger drivers to too much too soon, I would say that would be a good fit.”
Gow backs Bottas to partner Verstappen at Red Bull
After Bottas left Mercedes, the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said that he was the best team-mate he had ever had in F1.
The former Mercedes driver often obeyed team orders and helped secure the Brackley-based team five Constructors’ Championships in five consecutive seasons.
Sergio Perez currently occupies the second seat at Red Bull and has also been a great team-mate to Verstappen as he helped him to secure his first world title in the Abu Dhabi 2021 showdown.
Although, this season the Mexican driver has been off the pace, struggling to get to grips with the car residing in eighth place in the Drivers’ Standings whilst Verstappen is in first place.
Perez is one of the main reasons why Red Bull is not leading the championship and why McLaren or Ferrari will probably be the Constructors’ champions.
Both McLaren and Ferrari’s drivers have won a race this year but Perez is yet to taste victory in 2024.
Gow went on to explain why she thinks Bottas is the right choice.
“We know Carlos Sainz can’t go [to Red Bull], he’s already signed with Williams and the Dads [Jos Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Sr.] don’t get on,” she said.
“So you can’t put him in that seat but someone like a Valtteri Bottas [could work].
When asked if it was even possible, the F1 journalist replied: “I don’t know, I don’t think so.
“I don’t think anyone’s gone, hmm but all of a sudden, on the train in actually, I was like, hmm, have I come up with something? It’s genius.”
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