Valtteri Bottas makes his feelings known about a possible move to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull
Valtteri Bottas has opened up about the possibility of him driving for Red Bull as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez and he feels that maybe there are a few people in the squad who don't like him. The Finnish driver is more than likely sitting out of the 2025 F1 season as there's no seat available for him.
This situation comes as a surprise to many, as the Finnish driver has been part of the sport for over a decade now and has been one of the more reliable drivers on the grid. He was a teammate to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, where he was a valuable contributor as well.
Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo/Sauber in 2022 as Mercedes replaced him with George Russell, and spent three years with the team. He's been replaced by Nico Hulkenberg for 2025 at Sauber, and while he is on the market, it has come as a surprise to a few that he's not in contention for a seat at Red Bull as Perez's replacement.
In the week leading into the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, a Red Bull store had Bottas' merchandise as part of the catalog which further fuelled rumors of a possible move for Bottas as the Mexican's replacement.
Talking to media including Sportskeeda, the Finnish driver quashed such rumors as he said,
“Yes, I got some messages this week like, ‘are you going to Red Bull?' I said ‘not that I know.’ So, it’s, you know, it’s all the rumors. 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.”
He added,
“I don’t know what I should say about that, really. 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."
Max Verstappen comes out in support of Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez found an ally in Max Verstappen during the F1 Abu Dhabi GP when the Red Bull teammate said that the media had been very harsh on the Mexican driver. He said the Mexican was regarded as a "great driver," but the car had almost always been too hard to drive. Verstappen said,
"I don’t know, this is up to the team. I always worked really well with Checo, he is a great guy honestly. It is very rare that you have a team-mate like him who has always been very good and just a nice guy too. I work with him every weekend, week in, week out and I find people have been very harsh on him.
"Of course, there are some weekends that maybe could have been better naturally, but sometimes people have been very harsh on him, because he's not an idiot. He's always been regarded as a great driver, and it's been tough, but it's been tough for everyone in the team because sometimes it was just very difficult to drive."
Sergio Perez's future is still seemingly up in the air at the moment as there have been recent reports that the driver is likely to be replaced by Liam Lawson. However, Red Bull has not made any announcements regarding next season's drivers.