Valtteri Bottas declares interest in F1 2026 seat with Alfa Romeo claim refuted

Sam Cooper 13 Aug 2023 8:00 PM

Valtteri Bottas has admitted his interest in a seat at Audi F1 but denied the current team are waiting for the Germans’ arrival.

Alfa Romeo are six months away from rebranding as Sauber and two and a half years from becoming the Audi works team and their driver Bottas has admitted he would like to stay on through the transition.

Audi will come into F1 in 2026 as the power unit provider of the Sauber outfit and Bottas is hoping to still be a part of that.

Valtteri Bottas has one eye on the future

At 33, Bottas is one of the more experienced members of the F1 paddock and should he stay until 2026, the Finn could be one of the oldest if the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have hung up their gloves by then.

But retirement appears not to be Bottas’ mind with the current Alfa driver admitting it would be “interesting” to be a part of the switch to Audi.

“The more I think about it, yes. For me, it’s an interesting era for the team,’ he said, as per Motorsport.com.

“When you are focused on the here and now, you don’t want to sometimes think too far ahead – but then if I really think about it, and the long term plan, then it would make sense.

“And for me it would be really motivating to be part of it. Let’s see, it is still a while away. I’m sure eventually we will have some discussions, but not yet.”

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Many have suggested the current Alfa team are in somewhat of a holding pattern waiting for the arrival of Audi but Bottas has denied that, stating their seeming lack of progress is due to a competitive field.

“Looking from the outside, it could look that way, that people are just waiting for Audi to come and so on,” he said. “But it is not the case.

“Everyone is flat out, everyone is pushing. So we’re not standing still. It is just that the field is now so competitive and, if you don’t start the season quite there, then it’s not easy to come back up. So we’re pushing, we’re not standing still.”