Former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto's return to Formula 1 as chief operating and chief technical officer at Audi could give Valtteri Bottas a new lease of life in the sport.
Binotto, who left Maranello at the end of 2022, was last month confirmed as the man in charge of Audi's factory works team for 2026 after the manufacturer decided to release Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffman.
Binotto's first public action was to poach Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to serve as team principal, giving the operation a whole new energy and sense of direction.
At the moment, the team continues to race under the Sauber name with drivers Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Neither had been expected to make the transition to the works line-up, with Nico Hulkenberg already confirmed for 2025 onwards.
Not that Bottas is giving up hope of extending his stay in F1. Indeed, he believes that Binotto's arrival at Hinwil gives his own prospects of retaining his seat a second wind.
“It is going to reset the talks a bit,” Bottas is quoted as saying this week by Crash.net. "We've previously been in communication with Andreas and Oliver, and now it’s Mattia.
“For sure that will change some things, so we need to speak," said Bottas, who previously drove for Williams and Mercedes before joining Sauber at the start of 2022. “It’s a bit of a complicated situation, but let’s see.”
Bottas made his F1 debut in Australia in 2013 and has now taken part in 236 Grand Prix, which have included 10 race wins amid 67 podiums, as well as 20 pole positions with Mercedes.
But Sauber hasn't been able to give him a car to allow him or Zhou to perform anywhere near at that level, with the result that Bottas has dropped off the radar off a lot of big teams and not in the running for a top seat.
A return to Williams has been blocked by the announcement that Carlos Sainz will be at Grove next year. Sainz had been one of the drivers said to be in the running for Audi, so that might actually open up an opportunity for Bottas.
“It was a vote of no confidence for Sauber/Audi,” Sky Sports F1 presenter Craig Slater said on a recent Sky podcast about Sainz' decision to choose Williams over Audi.
Slater added that the driver's decision appeared particularly pointed "when you think about the family connection with Sainz and Carlos Sainz Senior winning Dakar with Audi and the Volkswagen Group.
“For him to walk away from that when it seemed the most obvious place for him to go is a clear sign that things are not right there," Slater added.
The question now is how Binotto sees the Audi project he's inherited and what changes he wants to implement in the wake of Seidl's departure - and what that means for the choice of drivers.
“Mattia needs to know what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths," acknowledged Bottas. “What are the priorities for short and long-term improvements. And that’s going to take a bit of time.
“It’s been pretty clear that all the decisions in the last year or two have been made to be competitive from ‘26," he said, suggesting that's a reason why the team is currently pointless and bottom of the constructors standings this year.
"It’s not ideal," he said. "For me, unfortunately, many times fighting towards the back end." His best result of the year so far was 13th in Monaco and Canada, while Zhou was 11th in the season opener in Bahrain.
"My job is still to do the very best I can," Bottas continued. "And at the same time, push the team and contribute the best I can. That’s all I can do at the moment.
“Obviously some things are internal," the Finn admitted. "But we know that compared to the big teams, we’re still lacking a bit of human power.
“There are certain areas that we definitely need to focus on, at the factory but also with the car performance," he said. “At the moment we're not where we need to be. We needed some new upgrades [to get us going] in the right direction.
“Hopefully from now on, things will be a bit more stable and there’s a clear direction.”
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