Bottas has 'clear' F1 target as Red Bull seat claim made

Valtteri Bottas believes Stake's recent upturn in performance finally gives him a "clear carrot" to avoid a first point-less season in F1. Bottas is currently 23rd in the drivers' championship with a best season-finish of 13th in Monaco, Canada and Sao Paulo and is below team-mate Zhou Guanyu and ex-Williams driver Logan Sargeant.  The Finn has never failed to score a point in his F1 career in any of his 12 seasons but the uncompetitive Stake machine has meant that unless he scores in Qatar or Abu Dhabi, he will go point-less as he leaves F1 for next season.  He last scored points in Qatar in 2023, and following an upgrade made to the car in recent races, believes points could be a real possibility as he starts the Lusail race 13th, one place behind Zhou.  "It is very late in the season, and we've been waiting for these improvements for a long, long time, it is kind of ironic," Bottas told media including RacingNews365 when asked for his feeling at the performance boost coming at race 23 of 24.  "But at least now we can try and do something and make the most out of here and Abu Dhabi, but we need to gain a couple of places somehow, a couple of DNFs would help.  "We have a chance of points, but for that, we need perfection. "Even one point would be amazing, so at least now there is a clear carrot that I am trying to get." Article continues below.

Bottas is expected to return to Mercedes as a third and reserve driver to George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli after losing his Stake seat to Gabriel Bortoleto for 2025.  However, following the continued under-performance of Sergio Perez at Red Bull, the 10-time grand prix winner has been touted as a potential partner to Max Verstappen at Red Bull.  Red Bull is also evaluating its own in-house drivers of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, with Bottas hinting that his Mercedes past could be counting against him. "I feel like they have lots of drivers on their programme and that they prefer them," he said/ "Some time ago, we asked and it was a pretty clear no for some reason, but I don't know if it is something to do with the past."