‘Bad news’ for Bottas and Zhou as front-runner emerges for Sauber seat – report

Following the 2025 signing of Nico Hulkenberg, if they want to stay at Sauber, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are now battling for one seat.

Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto has reportedly emerged as a front-runner to take on the remaining Sauber seat in the F1 2025 season.

Bortoleto, currently among McLaren‘s roster of reserve drivers, is being linked with the contractually vacant seat alongside Nico Hulkenberg at the Hinwil-based team for next season, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both currently out of contract at the end of the season.

Gabriel Bortoleto emerges as new favourite for Sauber seat – report

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

A report from Motorsport.com has claimed that 19-year-old Bortoleto, currently competing for the Formula 2 title, has become a leading candidate for the drive at Sauber next year.

Bottas had appeared to be the favourite to take the drive for next season, but the report claims off the back of his last-to-first feature race victory at Monza last time out, potential interest in him has strengthened from Sauber’s management, which “would appear to be bad news” for the Finn for his hopes to stay in Formula 1.

Such a move would require McLaren to allow Bortoleto to either be released from his McLaren contract or loaned out, but the report from Motorsport.com claims the team would not stand in his way of landing a Formula 1 seat if such an opportunity arose, though this was not confirmed by the team.

How is the battle to make it onto the F1 2025 grid shaping up?

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Bottas recently explained that he feels in a good position in his negotiations, but nothing is yet decided upon his future.

“Options are limited for me,” Bottas told media including PlanetF1.com at Monza. “That’s how it is.

“[Mattia Binotto] really understands what he can get out of me for the team. So that’s a good thing for me, obviously – and if I can get involved into a project for the years ahead, which is an interesting project, a car manufacturer, then I’m interested as well.

“So I think there’s interest on both ways. We’ve made some progress, but I don’t want to give anything more than that.”

New Audi F1 boss Mattia Binotto confirmed Bortoleto is one of the names “on the list” under consideration for the 2025 seat at Sauber, prior to the team’s transition to new management in 2026, along with the likes of reserve driver Théo Pourchaire and others.

“Gabriel is doing very well in F2. I think he’s shown to be a great talent and, certainly, we are looking to what he is doing, as we are looking to many others,” Binotto said of Bortoleto at Monza.

“I don’t see those as the only names which have our attention, there are many names on the list with great potential, great expertise, great experience.

“It’s a matter of needing to judge what’s most important for us in the short, medium and long term and go for a clear, clear plan, which today I do not really have an answer.”

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