Bottas Slams Contract Rumors and Zhou Prepares for Plan B

Sep.22 - Valtteri Bottas slammed as "fake news" reports that he has definitely signed a one-year contract extension to remain at Audi-owned Sauber next year.

The claim was made by the normally well connected and highly respected veteran Formula 1 journalist Roger Benoit, who lamented in Blick newspaper that Sauber had been "cowardly" to overlook a promising rookie for the seat.

When he heard the latest Bottas rumour, Williams boss James Vowles urged his colleagues at Audi and Sauber to give more thought to borrowing Franco Colapinto.

"If I were in their position, I would take the time to see how Franco performs in the next two races, maybe even a little longer, and then make a decision," he said.

A Sauber spokesman, meanwhile, told Bild newspaper to take the Bottas contract news with a pinch of salt.

"This is all just speculation," he said. "Nothing has been decided yet.

There will be a decision at the end of September at the earliest."

That deadline appears to line up with what another contender for the seat, Mick Schumacher, has also been told.

"There will be a decision in September," he told Sky Deutschland in Singapore. "So we have to wait and see what happens in these weeks."

The German does admit, however, that he might need to start thinking about a 'plan B'. "I will deal with it when the time comes and plan A does not work.

"Plan B must be in the back of my mind," Schumacher added. "I don't know where that will go at the moment."

Bottas' current teammate Guanyu Zhou also thinks Sauber is yet to take a firm decision about who will be paired with Nico Hulkenberg from next year.

"I would say there is a 50 percent chance that I will stay," said the Chinese driver. However, he admitted that - like Schumacher - he also needs to have a plan B.

"All I can say is that a lot of good and very strong teams from other series have already contacted me," said Zhou. "I'm not going to mention who, but a few in different categories.

"But at this stage, I'm fighting for my place at Sauber."

As for the 34-year-old Finn Bottas, he hit back hard at Blick's claims that his one-year deal for 2025 is already agreed.

"Fake news, that's what you can say about that," he told Viaplay after qualifying in Singapore. "Nothing is signed.

"A one-year contract is not my goal here, but we'll see more next week. Let's keep a cool head."

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