Bottas dreams of Red Bull: Is the comeback for 2026?

Bottas dreams of Red Bull: Is the comeback for 2026?

Valtteri Bottas, Finnland - Valtteri Bottas expresses the desire to become active as a regular driver in Formula 1. The Finnish racing driver sees Red Bull Racing a possible chance of a cockpit. Bottas, who is currently working as a reserve driver at Mercedes, believes that an experienced driver in the second car from Red Bull would be very useful, especially after the difficulties that Red Bull with his current drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda has left the team since Sergio Perez. Bottas is convinced that he has the potential to master the Red Bull and is ready to accept this challenge.

bottas is optimistic about the 2026 season because he has not yet given up his options for a cockpit. Before his resignation of Sauber at the end of the 2024 season, the Finn had made a decade as a regular driver at Williams, Mercedes and clean career. His move back to Mercedes as a reserve driver was announced on December 19, 2024 after Sauber had chosen a new driver combination from Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. At Sauber there was no place for Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.

Red Bull's lack of driver

The current lack of driver at Red Bull is obvious. Bottas has expressed his opinion about the situation several times. He has found that Lawson and Tsunoda have difficulties with the performance of the car and suspected that Red Bull could possibly achieve better results with an experienced driver. Bottas made it clear that access to Red Bull is unlikely for 2025, mainly due to negative views of certain people within the Red Bull organization. Nevertheless, he shows interest and remains ready to fight for a return to the racing.

Max Verstappen naturally remains number one in the team and is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028. Tsunoda's long -term status, on the other hand, is uncertain, and Bottas wonders whether the team really needs a driver of his experience. His last years in Formula 1 were quite successful, with a third place in the World Cup and five consecutive constructor championships for Mercedes between 2017 and 2021.

The future of Bottas

Despite his return as a reserve driver, Bottas fears that this does not mean the end of his career on the race track. He emphasized that he cannot believe that his last Grand Prix is already behind him. He also promises to be open to customer teams from Mercedes, such as Alpine, who will travel with Mercedes-Power from 2026. Bottas has partnerships that could support him in a comeback, but faces the challenge of procuring the necessary financial means to get back to the cockpit.

In the current season, Bottas has been well out of the reserve position, but for a cockpit at Red Bull, he has to prevail against the internal internal resistance and the current performance problems. The coming seasons could be crucial for his career and whether he can realize the dream of driving again in a competitive car. Bottas remains in conversation with his possibilities, even if the entry barriers are high.