Red Bull should sign Bottas to replace Perez - but won't

Valtteri Bottas is a free agent for the 2025 F1 season as he finds himself without a seat following the decision from Stake to axe him after three seasons. 

The veteran Finn will be departing the team after Sauber Motorsport boss Mattia Binotto opted to sign Gabriel Bortoleto to partner Nico Hulkenberg, with Zhou Guanyu also walking out the door. 

Zhou's plans remain uncertain, but Bottas has been linked with a possible return as third driver at Mercedes for whom he drove between 2017-2021 as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton. 

He would be shadowing George Russell and 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli, a move Bottas did not rule out when questioned about it in the United States. 

But there is one seat he should be given for 2025 on the grid - Sergio Perez's Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen. However, it is one he will not get.

Bottas to Red Bull?

Despite what the results may show, Bottas is having a strong season in the dreadfully uncompetitive Stake machine, and is at risk of a first point-less campaign of his career. 

In Sao Paulo, he got something akin to altitude sickness after putting the car 11th on the grid for the race before, as is the norm, falling back as better equipment eased past.

This is doing a disservice to Bottas, a driver whom is still operating at a high-level, but just cannot show it in the sub-par machine at his disposal.

During his time at Mercedes, Bottas made Q3 100 times in 100 attempts and out-qualified Hamilton, statistically the greatest qualifier, about one-third of the time. 

Towards the end of his time at Mercedes, Bottas came to terms with the harsh reality that he was simply not on the level of an all-time great of Hamilton - or in this hypothetical case, Verstappen. 

Making peace with the fact that you will not be world champion because someone else is just better than you can be tough, but Bottas was there for Mercedes throughout his stay to pick up the wins when woe befell Hamilton - such as the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, set to be his 10th and final F1 win.

When incidents have hit Verstappen in 2024, Perez has often finished behind the stricken sister car and not in place to scoop up the win or podium.

One reason Red Bull will not go for Bottas is that it prefers to focus on its own eco-system of drivers, with Liam Lawson the likely candidate to replace Perez, who is widely expected to be jettisoned following an abysmal season that will likely cost the team the constructors' crown.

But Lawson would be a relative rookie going up alongside Verstappen and, therefore, open to being crushed like Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon before him. It would be unwise for Red Bull to throw Lawson in at the deepest end for a team that has badly mismanaged its driver stable in recent years. 

Bottas would be an uncomplicated, cheap, easy choice for Red Bull to slot in, who would know his place and realise he is there to play second fiddle to Verstappen and allow the team more time to sort out driver line-ups. 

On paper it makes sense, but sadly for Bottas, he must now accept that a very fine grand prix career is coming towards its close.