Valtteri Bottas says signing with Sauber after Mercedes dropped him ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season was a “mistake”.

In September 2021, Mercedes announced George Russell would replace Bottas after five seasons with the team, leaving Bottas needing to find a new team.

He picked Sauber - Alfa Romeo-badged at the time and Fred Vasseur-led - signing a multi-year deal with the team.

Having now completed his final race of his third and last season with the team, something he says is a “relief”, he admits choosing Sauber was an error on his part.

“It was a mistake,” Bottas said. “You can't predict the future, everything started well off in the first year, since then was downhill.

“But yeah, you can't predict the future, that's how it is. Just want to make sure the next move I make is a good one - and hopefully better times to come.”

When asked if he had any other options at the time, Bottas said tellingly “there was Williams at that point” - perhaps hinting that he would've backed himself for an Alex Albon-style career resurgence in that team's environment.

Sauber has outscored Williams across those three years (75 vs 53) but has had a worryingly downward trajectory across those seasons - while Williams has made steady progress despite a 2024 season that’s featured two brutal crash streaks and a spare parts crisis.

‘Plans went into the bin’

Vasseur, who led the ART Grand Prix team Bottas raced for in Euro F3 and GP3 prior to F1, was a big pull factor for Bottas.

“Fred was a big part, I used to work with him before,” Bottas explained when The Race asked him why he had picked Sauber.

“There was a clear plan and target for the three years and how to get there - but those plans went into the bin when he left.”

Bottas’s move started well in 2022 with sixth place on his Sauber debut and eight further points finishes as it claimed sixth in the constructors’.

But Vasseur left to head up Ferrari in the winter and there were only four points finishes in 2023 before a galling 2024 left Bottas point-less for the first time in his F1 career. He was 22nd in a 20-car championship.

“We had a good relationship and clear targets. That changed a lot. I don't blame him [Vasseur] because if you're a team principal and have a chance to go to Ferrari, you go,” Bottas said.

Vasseur was replaced at Sauber by Andreas Seidl as part of the team's preparations for a future representing new owner Audi. That clearly did not work out well for Bottas - who, once Seidl left the role this year, would hint pretty openly at a breakdown in the relationship between the two sides.

Did Bottas explore other options when Vasseur left?

“Yes, for sure, but when he left it was quite late, only at very end of year,” Bottas said.

“I did have an option that if Fred goes, I can go but... once Audi confirmed they're joining, I thought I'd be the pillar for the project, and well, that didn't happen.”

Audi signed Nico Hulkenberg - known to be a Seidl choice - to a three-year deal early in 2024, making it clear that Bottas' future at the team was on shaky ground.

He hoped that Seidl being replaced by Mattia Binotto mid-season would change that trajectory and sounded optimistic for much of the season that a new deal would be agreed - right up to the point that Sauber/Audi instead picked Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto to partner Hulkenberg in 2025.

An unhelpful grid penalty

On Saturday Bottas made it to Q3 for the first time since Shanghai in April but his race was compromised on the opening lap when he made contact with Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.

Perez retired while the stewards deemed the incident the fault of Bottas and slapped him with a 10-second penalty that ruined any chance of Bottas scoring his first points of 2024.

While trying to recover from that, Bottas locked up and slammed into Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, leading to terminal damage that made Sauber retire his car.

“It's a shame, today really didn't go my way,” Bottas said. “It started with the incident with Checo, I was on the inside and he took a really tight line, which he's allowed to but I couldn't disappear anywhere, got a penalty for it. It's a real shame.

“[Then] I was trying to defend as hard as I could and with old tyres - and I think Kevin was just unlucky that he was where he was because I was just going straight [after locking up]. ”

The stewards took a dim view of the incident, with Bottas retiring in the pits, handed him a five-place grid penalty - ironically one he might never serve.

That’s unless he secures the F1 return he desires, either as a stand-in next year as Mercedes’ likely reserve driver or if he can secure a full-time return in 2026.

“Oh no, That's not ideal," Bottas said when told that the grid penalty would hang over him into 2025 and beyond.

"Maybe I can ask if they'll change it to a fine, I'll pay the fine."