F1 race winner bullish on landing Audi 2026 drive

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F1 race winner bullish on landing Audi 2026 drive

There is a future opportunity available to the driver

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 7 January 2024 13:57

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Valtteri Bottas believes that an 'opportunity' to drive with the new Audi team in 2026 may allow him to get back onto the podium, after claiming he is still 'hungry' for success.

The Finn has found himself racing around the lower midfield since joining Alfa Romeo (now Stake F1) back in 2022. Alongside Zhou Guanyu, the pair have formed a solid partnership and Bottas himself has accumulated 59 points for the team.

However, it's a long way away from the five seasons that preceded that for the 34-year-old, who claimed 10 race victories between 2017-2021 for Mercedes as the Brackley-based team dominated the sport.

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He was replaced by British driver George Russell ahead of 2022, and has since not managed to get himself back up onto the podium.

Valtteri Bottas' current team have recently announced a name change

Valtteri Bottas is heading into his third season with the newly-named team

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were team-mates together at Mercedes

Audi to begin discussions in early 2024

This seems to be a goal that Bottas is eager to achieve once more, however, and believes that Audi may be his best chance of doing that.

Audi have been confirmed to be joining the Formula 1 grid in 2026, and will take the spot of Bottas' current team.

While rumours have been swirling about potential personnel that may be joining Audi in 2026, it is likely that Bottas will have a good chance of retaining his seat, if he can continue to outperform team-mate Zhou.

“F1 is the number one thing for me," he told Motorsport.com.

“I'm still hungry to get back on the podium eventually. The Audi project could be the next opportunity.

“From my understanding, they're going to make decisions of the years ahead early [this] year. So not yet. I'm going to have those discussions in the first quarter of [this] year.”

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff Audi Valtteri Bottas