He’s a 10-time race winner, has stood on the podium 67 times and started on pole 20 times. The Finn’s feedback is very impressive, he is willing to put in the hours to help the team grow quickly and he’s arguably in the shape of his life from a physical perspective.
Bottas is clearly hungry to get stuck into a new project, otherwise he would never have pursued the Mercedes reserve role – which will see him attend all 24 races – and the fact that Williams, Sauber and Alpine all considered a move for him suggests his stock is still strong.
He’s not hanging about either as he’s already been talking to Lowdon about a potential move, having got to know him better across three years at Sauber when Lowdon was managing the Finn’s team mate Zhou Guanyu.
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Zhou Guanyu
When Zhou Guanyu lost out on a race seat for 2026, he could see the positives of a year off as it had “been a draining season”.
However, he had no intention of putting his feet up – and instead spent the closing months of last season working on a deal to stay relevant by securing a reserve role.
