Valtteri Bottas ‘99% sure’ of F1 future amid intense Williams speculation

Valtteri Bottas is “99%” confident of being on the F1 grid in 2025 amid speculation that he's set to return to Williams.

Bottas is one of several drivers out of contract at the end of the year.

The Finn is out of favour among Audi’s management, with CEO Andreas Seidl looking at Carlos Sainz or the Alpine duo as potential options to put alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

Bottas appears to be a major player in the driver market though, with strong links to Williams.

He’s also been rumoured to be on Haas and Alpine’s shortlist for 2025.

Speaking to select media including Crash.net in Monaco on Thursday, Bottas provided an update on his future.

“I have not signed to anywhere at the moment,” Bottas said. “No, I said it’s only 100% when the pen hits the paper.

“So in this sport, that’s how it works. It’s never 100%, but yeah, I’ll still go for 99%.”

When pressed on a timeframe, he added: “I would like to be sorted soon, which is kind of the same thing for the teams I guess, because things are really moving, so hopefully within the next weeks.”

Bottas was pictured in the Williams garage during the last race at Imola, leading to intense speculation over a possible return.

The 34-year-old worked alongside Williams boss James Vowles at Mercedes.

Vowles was Mercedes’ chief strategist during Bottas’ time at the team.

Vowles was responsible for giving Bottas team orders on a number of occasions, resulting in the infamous “Valtteri, it’s James” soundbite.

Bottas insisted that he has a great relationship with Vowles, playing down the aforementioned team orders.

“No, never. It’s always been good. I think obviously there was some stuff, people got excited about the James Valtteri radio comments and stuff, but that’s just, it’s been amplified by the social media. So yeah, my relationship has always been very good, very straightforward and honest with him,” he explained.

Assessing Williams, he concluded: “I think they’re in the right direction. He certainly knows what a team needs to be on the top. So yeah, when I saw that he became Williams team principal, I always knew that’s good news for the team because I know the guy, what he can do. And yeah, so far I think he’s been doing a good job.”