‘Old driver on the way down’ verdict as Sauber urged not to sign another Villeneuve

Sauber have been urged by F1 commentator Marc Surer not to go down the Jacques Villeneuve route again by re-signing Valtteri Bottas.

Sauber is the only team outside of Red Bull that still has a seat open for the F1 2025 championship with drivers scrambling to sign on as Nico Hulkenberg’s team-mate.

‘Sauber sign old drivers on the way down’

The list is said to include the incumbents in Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumacher has also been linked to the race seat, while Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto have also been mentioned.

Bottas is reportedly the favourite despite sitting 22nd in the Drivers’ Championship as he has yet to get off the mark this season. Neither Sauber driver has scored a point but Zhou has knocked on the door with a P11; Bottas’ best are two P13 finishes.

It has Surer adamant that Sauber shouldn’t make the same mistake they did with Villeneuve in 2005 by signing a driver who is past his prime. Villeneuve, F1’s 1997 World Champion, joined Sauber in 2005 but was dropped 12 races into the 2006 season and replaced by Robert Kubica.

“Bottas, sorry,” he told the Formel1.de YouTube channel. “That’s actually what Sauber has experienced a few times – they sign old drivers on the way down.

“For example, Villeneuve. They kicked him out sometime in the middle of the year.”

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Claiming that Bottas was “never a high-flyer”, Surer believes the 35-year-old Finn has lost interest having gone from winning races with Mercedes to struggling to score points with Sauber.

“It’s clear,” he added, “if you’re winning races with the best car in the field and then you’re in a car that barely manages to finish 10th, you lose interest. It’s not the same effort as before, when you know you can win or fight for the podium.”

He says the team, which will be rebranded Audi in 2026, should instead use the “opportunity to develop a young driver” as there are a “few that are available”.

One of those is Bortoleto , McLaren’s Formula 2 star, who Williams driver Alex Albon believes is in the running for the Audi seat.

“I think it’s going to be tight,” he told Motorsport.com . “I don’t think there’s an obvious answer. From everything I saw, it sounded like it was happening, like there was a good chance. And then, obviously, I haven’t spent so much… I think you guys know more the talks of the paddock.”

He added: “I think he would be a great addition. I think you’ve seen the drivers that have come in from F2, Kimi [Antonelli], Ollie [Bearman], Franco, they have been competitive straight away. And I don’t see why another addition wouldn’t be quick as well.”

But he also reckons his current team-mate at Williams, Colapinto, has to be “going into the mix” given his stellar performances having replaced Logan Sargeant for the final nine races of the season. He achieved what Sargeant could not do this season by scoring points in only his second race, Azerbaijan where he was P8.

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