Should Bottas fear for future in F1? 'I don't have to prove myself'

Valtteri Bottas faces an important year. The Stake F1 driver must prove in 2024 that he is (still) good enough to compete in Formula 1. His contract expires in December, and the Finn does not want to consider retirement. But where can the Finn go?

Bottas is now 34, and he hasn't been able to showcase his skills so much during recent season. Still, he says: "I feel like I have nothing to prove. But of course, in this sport, you always want to keep proving yourself because people's memory is short. We had a difficult year last year. I probably wasn't that visible on track sometimes fighting towards the back end. So hopefully, people don't forget what I've been able to achieve, which is, I believe, 67 podiums and 20 poles, etc. So there's not that many drivers in the grid who are going to be free with those numbers."

Bottas wants to drive for Audi

"It's going to be interesting and I would imagine things will start to move relatively soon because there are many contracts that are expiring, including myself," Bottas continued in conversation with GPblog and others. "I want to have a good beginning of the year and then we'll see. The people behind me, they're already working on it, finding the best options. I just need to do the driving now. But my priority, as I've said before, would be getting involved in the Audi project. For me, that's really, really tempting and ideal, let's say. But let's wait and see."

Audi will make their entrance into Formula 1 from 2026, succeeding Stake F1. Carlos Sainz is said to be on pole to join the German team under contract. Young driver Theo Pourchaire is also under contract with Stake. Guanyu Zhou's contract is also set to expire.