{"id":29310,"date":"2025-01-04T14:50:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T19:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=29310"},"modified":"2025-01-05T07:37:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T12:37:58","slug":"bottas-indycar-becomes-an-option-if-f1-return-is-out-of-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/04\/bottas-indycar-becomes-an-option-if-f1-return-is-out-of-reach\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottas: IndyCar becomes an option if F1 return is out of reach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valtteri Bottas<\/a> will spend the majority of this year working on an F1 comeback for 2026. The Finn believes returning to the grid is possible – but he remains open to racing in categories like IndyCar.<\/p>\n

Bottas: IndyCar is second option behind F1<\/h2>\n

For several reasons, Bottas can be considered one of the most significant free agents in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes reserve driver<\/a> has 10 race victories and dozens of podiums to his name, giving him weight in the market.<\/p>\n

Putting aside his accomplishments, Bottas will feel his strong performances went unnoticed last season.<\/p>\n

In the opening races of the season, like Australia and China, Sauber were fast enough to fight for points. At both venues, the 35-year-old put himself in contention for the top 10 – before reliability failures and poor pit-stops proved costly.<\/p>\n

Only in the final three rounds, when Sauber brought their Las Vegas update package, were the Swiss team again capable of fighting for points<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A combination of factors, including misfortune in Qatar after contact with Lawson, meant Bottas could not capitalise – ending the year on zero points.<\/p>\n

However, he does not believe the final standings are reflective of his abilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber, in the garage; 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One World Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bottas has even argued that his performances at Sauber exceeded his level at Mercedes – only for poor machinery to mask this.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to 2026, Formula 1 is his priority. Should nothing materialise in F1, Bottas told racingnews365<\/a> that joining IndyCar is an attractive alternative<\/p>\n

“At the moment I’m thinking, if Formula 1 for 2026 wouldn’t happen for some reason, then my focus probably would shift to IndyCar.<\/em><\/p>\n

“So that’s also something that could be interesting to try at least, to do some testing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Whether it’s an IndyCar race or a test, that’s something that’s really interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n

“[2026] is a long way away, but it will come quick. So my next move is a to to do with 2026, and [I am] definitely planning that now.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Opportunities in the market<\/h4>\n

Last year saw tremendous change across the field, with the vast majority of teams signing at least one new driver.<\/p>\n

Losing out in last season’s merry-go-round puts Bottas in a tricky position. There are still seats available for 2026, but the market dynamics are far more predictable than they were twelve months ago.<\/p>\n

Cadillac are an obvious option for the Finn, but there are a few variables that could impact the US team’s 2026 line-up.<\/p>\n

Colton Herta’s success or failure<\/a> in securing enough Super License points to race in F1 could delay and otherwise impacts Cadillac’s decision-making. Depending on whether Bottas is at the top of Cadillac’s shortlist, this could complicate negotiations.<\/p>\n

Considering how last year evolved for Bottas, he will be eager to pursue more clear-cut routes.<\/p>\n

Under Flavio Briatore’s leadership, Alpine could easily pull the trigger and make a mid-season swap. Alongside the likes of Franco Colapinto<\/a>, the 35-year-old will investigate whether a place at the French team is feasible.<\/p>\n

Outside of Cadillac and Alpine, most teams have two drivers on multi-year contracts. There is always the chance of a surprise elsewhere on the grid, but it is too early to say if Bottas will be the one to capitalise.<\/p>\n

As a result, exploring openings at IndyCar for 2026 is a logical step for the Finn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valtteri Bottas will spend the majority of this year working on an F1 comeback for 2026. The Finn believes returning to the grid is possible – but he remains open to racing in categories like IndyCar. Bottas: IndyCar is second option behind F1 For several reasons, Bottas can be considered one of the most significant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":22557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,465,345],"class_list":["post-29310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-f1-news","tag-sauber"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29310"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29334,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29310\/revisions\/29334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}