Sauber haven’t had a brilliant start to the season but they could have had a different line-up this year as the team reportedly wanted Valtteri Bottas to leave at the end of 2023.
Andreas Seidl is set to take over the team when they become Audi in 2026 and already has some ideas on a new driver pairing.
Speaking on the Motorsport-Magazin YouTube channel, journalist Christian Menath has shared the direction the Swiss team could be about to head in.
Sauber wanted Bottas out at the end of 2023
It’s no surprise that the now-named Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber outfit are yet to score a point this season.
The gap between the top five and bottom five teams has grown over the winter, making finishing in 10 place or above increasingly difficult.
Saudi Arabia provided a scenario when the five pointless teams sensed an opportunity after Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin into the wall.
Haas were the beneficiaries after they sacrificed Kevin Magnussen’s race to earn Nico Hulkenberg a point.
The German has a big fan in the incoming Seidl and Haas had to block a move from Sauber for him to replace Bottas’s teammate Zhou at the end of 2023.
The 225-race driver has admitted he wants to stay with the team until they become the newest works team on the grid.
However, if he’s going to achieve that, he needs to improve his performance on the track and prove he’s the best possible available option.
Bottas driving for his F1 career in 2024
Speaking about Sauber’s potential future line-up, Menath said: “Sauber, relatively disappointing in terms of performance.
“Sauber is not 100% satisfied with the two drivers. Valtteri Bottas was signed by Fred Vasseur three years ago, not Andreas Seidl who probably would have liked to have got rid of him a year earlier, so I’m pretty sure that there are two cockpits to fill.
“Zhou Guanyu, of course, also brings a lot of money, but perspectively, Sauber will become the Audi works team and a pay driver will no longer be required to play a role at all.”
If Bottas had left Sauber at the end of 2023, there might have been a spot on the grid for him this season anyway.
His old team Williams waited until the last moment to confirm Logan Sargeant as their driver for this year, but if Bottas was on the market, they may have moved to bring him in.
These are all hypotheticals though and Bottas now potentially has 22 races to convince Sauber he’s the right man for the job next season.
Otherwise, he may be on the search for another seat or concentrating on his other pastimes.
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