Mercedes want Bottas, Bottas wants to Mercedes: Why is there no deal ready?

It is no secret that Mercedes are keen to bring back Valtteri Bottas. The German team see the Finn as the ideal third driver behind George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. For Bottas, who is without a permanent seat in Formula 1 after leaving Sauber, it would also be a return to the team with which he celebrated his greatest successes. So why is the deal taking so long to finalise?

Sauber are set to continue with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto for next season, therefore, after three seasons, Bottas had to say goodbye. Talking to GPblog among others, the Finn talked about his future. "Just because I'm in no rush, I want to see all the opportunities out there but we're still in regular touch and we did agree that we're going to catch up after the last race, it's been busy three weeks for one so it's going to be easier then," he began.

Bottas does not see any bears on the road to a collaboration. He continued: "But there's no hurdles at such and we both have the interest. So it's just that either side we haven't been in a rush to do anything," concluded the Finn, who has not given up on returning to the competition just yet.

Perhaps Bottas might be in the picture, for example, at Cadillac, the new team that will join the grid in the 2026 season. Mario Andretti, the director of the board and in charge of driver selection, previously indicated to GPblog that the team wants to attract at least one experienced driver. Daniel Ricciardo could no longer be on that list, as the Australian indicated his time in Formula One is over.

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