Valtteri Bottas reckons Mattia Binotto becoming Sauber boss will “reset” talks over the team’s remaining 2025 Formula 1 seat, but it’s also set to impact driver market discussions for others.
One of Binotto’s first tasks when he starts at Sauber – reporting directly to the Audi board ahead of the marque rebranding the long-time customer F1 entrant – on 1 August will be to decide who partners Nico Hulkenberg for next year.
Soon-to-be former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had long been Sauber/Audi’s first choice, but he has declined to either accept or refuse its reportedly lucrative offer when there is still a chance Red Bull or Mercedes will have a free slot after all for 2025, with regards to their respective choices over keeping Sergio Perez or promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Sainz is also weighing up a surprise late offer from Alpine, with his insistence on delaying making his decision apparently cooling Williams’ interest in signing him over recent weeks.
Binotto could decide to do likewise on Sauber/Audi’s behalf while, at the same time, his Ferrari past – he hired Sainz to replace Sebastian Vettel at the Scuderia for 2021 – and track record there might make Sainz rethink what he has seen of the Sauber/Audi project.
This has become less attractive to many drivers in the energetic 2025 driver market because its downturn in 2024 results and the long lead times to turn around the fortunes of any F1 squad mean they face the likelihood of a tricky season next year without any guarantee Audi will be the best place to start F1’s new chassis and engine rules era in 2026.
“I'm not up to date with everything that is going on at every team but, of course, I think the arrival of Mattia to any team is positive, mainly because he has the experience of what it takes to build a team that is a top team nowadays, like it is at Ferrari,” Sainz said in the pre-event press conference at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“And he has that experience from Ferrari that he can bring into Audi. And I'm sure it's a great asset for them.
“That's why they hired him. And, yeah, of course, I wish him all the best there.”
On the possibility of whether Binotto joining Sauber/Audi would influence his decision, Sainz initially replied, “not really” but then did not dismiss the team from his choice of signing for “a lot of teams” for 2025.
“My future is still being discussed and obviously analysed very carefully,” he added.
“And there are changes to a lot of teams that I'm looking at for next year pretty much every week.
“So, there's changes, evolution on the team market as much as there is on the driver market.
“And I'm just going to keep giving myself time to take the decision to analyse all these things that keep changing, without giving you too many clues here.”
But, in the same press conference, Bottas had claimed: “It is going to reset a bit the talks, because we have previously been in communication with [former Sauber CEO and chairman of the board] Andreas [Seidl] and Oliver [Hoffmann] and now it's Mattia, who will officially start next week, I believe.
“For sure that will change some things, so we need to speak.”
Bottas again insisted “the big part of the remaining driver market is waiting for Carlos' move”, but then cryptically suggested things could move even without the Ferrari driver announcing where he is going to sign.
Bottas is known to have held talks with Williams over returning to that team, while right now Mercedes seems more likely to sign Antonelli after his strong Hungary Formula 2 feature race win than go with Sainz.
“That's no lie [that Sainz remains the big cork in the driver market bottle],” Bottas continued.
“But also not completely relying on that. It's a bit of a complicated situation, but let's see. I'm sure the cork will pop at some point.”
Sauber’s other incumbent driver, Zhou Guanyu, is also facing an unlikely future with the team, while a further 2025 driver market spot was tied up in the announcement of Esteban Ocon’s Haas deal on Thursday morning.
When asked if he viewed Binotto’s arrival as a reset in the talks about possibly staying at Sauber, Zhou - who has also been linked with a move to Alpine where he was previously an academy driver - said: “Yeah, exactly.
“I think with what they [Audi’s board] want to have and in terms of their goal and for the future for next year and also for when Audi actually arrives, it's definitely going to be a little bit different.
“Of course, I don't have any news yet because Mattia is not really joining the team until next week and so on.
“So, for me, it's definitely a reset for the management group people and try to talk to differently and understand exactly what values you can bring and what they want you to have to be taking part in this kind of project.
“Things definitely will be changing around a bit more than what was planned before but, for my side, I don't think it changed a lot the overall story or the picture.”
