Valtteri Bottas' 'matter of time' prediction for Audi F1 as battle for driver market heats up

Valtteri Bottas pushed to be part of the Audi F1 project, brushing aside all negative comments and saying success was just “a matter of time”.

Half of Audi's line-up is already confirmed for F1 2026: Nico Hülkenberg – the German brand taking over from Sauber – while current Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are fighting to remain part of the project. However, it is not a project without major obstacles.

Valtteri Bottas assures that Audi F1’s success is a “matter of time”

Audi has shown the door to its previous F1 boss Andreas Seidl and CEO Oliver Hoffmann and brought in former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto, while Red Bull's long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley will come in 2025 to lead the Audi F1 project together with Binotto.

The duo faces a major challenge: Sauber is at the bottom of the F1 2024 constructors' championship and is the only team without a point. Without major improvements, this is a difficult starting point for Audi F1.

But Bottas is not worried, having seen the work behind the scenes, as he battles to secure a place in Audi's F1 history while the likes of Liam Lawson, Mick Schumacher, Theo Pourchaire and Gabriel Bortoleto continue to be linked with a place in the 2025 F1 season.

“Over the last few months I’ve had to keep my eyes and ears open to see what’s happening and try to read the driver market because there was no guarantee that I would stay here,” Bottas began in an interview with Motorsport Week.com.

“But now there is a clear direction, a clear priority, and I still think that in the long run it could be really interesting and there is some success in sight if I can get involved in the project.

“I feel like it's exactly what I need at this stage of my career. I need a clear project to focus on and that's obviously easier at the moment, also for Audi.

“Change is part of it, but a big part of it is what I have learned in terms of the investments they have made, the facilities they have, the people they have, the people they are going to hire, [it] just gives me confidence that they will be successful.

“They have a pretty impressive setup at the moment and plans for the future. It's just a matter of time.

“The road to F1 will never be easy, but they have the resources.”

A closer look at the starting grid of F1 2025 and F1 2026

👉 F1 2025 driver line-up: Who has already been confirmed for the 2025 starting grid?

👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and 12 other drivers already confirmed for 2026

But while Sauber continues to lay the foundations for Audi F1, Binotto has made it clear that the team's current level is unacceptable.

“We cannot afford that,” was Binotto’s clear assessment Motorsport.com“I think this is the team that has to become a winning team in the future. And the only way to do that is to move up and progress. We have to train our muscles for the future.”

“So, yes, I think we definitely need to improve. That's important for ourselves, that's important for the team. That's important for the brand. That's important for our partners. And we can't just accept the current situation.

“We cannot hide behind the fact that we were last and second to last in the race in Zandvoort and in qualifying [at Monza] the same positions with some distance to the cars in front of us. So we have to work hard to improve.

“We have to balance all priorities and our efforts in the short term, medium term and long term. But I don't think our current situation is at all comfortable for us. It is very painful.”

“As I said, we need to train our muscles and improve, because you don't build a solid foundation overnight. It's a team that needs to make continuous progress every day, step by step. So, I would say we should start as early as possible.”

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