Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas opened up on his disastrous final race with the Sauber F1 team in Abu Dhabi, stating this wasn't how he expected to end his 3-year
opened up on his disastrous final race with the Sauber F1 team in Abu Dhabi, stating this wasn't how he expected to end his 3-year-stint with the team. Bottas was well-positioned for a potential points finish by starting from P9, but two collisions during his race meant he had to retire the car.
If that wasn't enough, the Finn collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen on Lap 30 after locking up under braking into a left-hander and veering straight into Magnussen's VF-24, who was attempting an overtake on the outside of Turn 6. The collision was substantial, forcing Bottas to retire from the race. He also received a 5-place grid penalty for the incident, which will carry over if he returns to a full-time seat in Formula 1.
The former Mercedes driver had been vying for a potential contract extension with Sauber, set to transition to Audi in 2026. However, the German automaker ultimately selected F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto to join Nico Hulkenberg in its 2025 driver lineup.
“The incident, then I got a penalty for it, then I was at the back out of position and later on, got together with Kevin . It was my bad, I was defending with old tyres and I tried to brake as late as I could but I just couldn’t stop the car.” Bottas remains the only driver on the F1 grid to have raced the entire year without scoring a point. This struggle can be attributed to the lack of development on the C44, which left both Bottas and his teammate Zhou Guanyu grappling with challenges throughout the season. It wasn't until the upgrades introduced in Las Vegas that the car began to show promising results.
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