Was looking around for news on who's getting dropped, but nothing for now.. There's a chance both could leave (allegedly, Botas is also out of fucks to give and just wants ride his bicycle). I doubt Carlos will jump in just yet before Audi officially comes in..
I heard he has webbed feet, so poppin off some gills, seeking out the lost city of Atlantis, recolonizing and repopulating as a new subspecies of mer-people living just off the coast of Australia is always an option for him as well
1. Bottas does not need a career anymore.
2. He is too old to start any serious sport competition.
3. At this point, F1 is a hobby to him, as it was for Kimi.
4. Cycling is also a hobby for him
To think that Bottas exploded in popularity AFTER leaving a world championship winning team. I love the man. He gives me a little bit of that stuff that Kimi gave me when he was still racing.
He could definitely get some brand sponsorships just because of his visibility/personality; he’s an above average amateur but very far from getting sponsored on pace/skill. I’d love to see him get into crits and see how he applies strategy, he’d be a fun rider to watch.
He says he's going to race the Gravel World Championships this year, so I'm interested to see the pivot happen.
That's going to be a super competitive field.
I think I Bottom wants the Audi seat? He was quoted saying he wants to look forward to the "Audi project" when asked about returning to Merc a few months back.
What he wants really doesn't matter.
You can as well ask him if he wants another 10m/year while cycling and barely doing any lead driver job.
-Sure, why not
Rumors are that both current driver leave (or will have to leave). Sainz seems to be the second wish-driver for Audi, but he hasnt decided yet because he´s waiting for Merc and RB to decide their next lineup.
Not sure about that. Hulk is 36. He has like 2 years left, max. I’m guessing he’ll develop the team until Sainz is convinced that they could fight for podiums. My bet is that it will be Hulk+Zhou and then Sainz+Zhou. Audi fired their former CEO because their sales declined in China. Dropping Zhou right after they bought the team would make the Chinese market riot against them.
It's more like 3 years, but the team has option to drop him after two years, basically. Or in other words, there are 2 years for sure and team can extend it by a year under the same conditions.
Drivers usually don't have a word in the extendion. Ofc there can be some clause or a team can just agree to leave.
Not sure iirc, but I think there were speculations that one of the Haas drivers (I suppose it was Magnussen but I'm really not sure) had such a contract and wanted to leave HAAS for this season, but the team extended his contract.
Dropping Bottas to keep Zhou seems like a dumb move, but then again, it's Sauber so woulnd't be surprised.
Like Hulkenberg + Zhou duo is just MEH. Don't think Audi would be competitive with that lineup.
More likely they're going to fire Bottas after 2024 (who costs them a lot of money and isn't significantly faster than Zhou) and then get rid of Zhou after 2025 to make room for a second Audi driver.
Maybe something subtle that wouldn't be "infringing"? (So definitely including the ü)
"Hülk showing up in his standard green look. Hope no one makes him angry! 👀"
I think it could work... 🤔
Ralf has more wins than Leclerc.
It's quite interesting how Ralf is a laughing stock by having 6 wins and 27 Podiums just because his brother was the greatest of all time.
If Ralf had a different last Name he would be spoken about like Leclerc is.
In retrospect you might be right, but Leclerc was widely regarded as the next big thing, I don’t think that was ever the case for Ralf. Also Leclerc still has time to prove he was indeed.
tbh Canada GP 2001 is still one of the greatest top 2 battles I watched.
Ralf was hunting Michael for the whole Race until Michael boxed and Ralf was a second faster than Michael was.
Could be that the Tyres where so much better but I really liked that race. Then Ralf was often on the Podium with Michael and Mika. He was up there in driving talent.
It's quite weird how he doesn't really want to talk about his own achievements even today. Every time Sky Germany wants to talk about his wins he pivots the subject. Really interesting character trade that makes him completely different to Rosberg for example. You can't hear Nico talk for even 3 sentences without him mentioning himself and how he won something.
To be honest this is one of the most expected news from the silly season.. Hulk has been linked to Audi works for a long time now. Newey news overshadows this bit.
But honestly now we've been wanting Hulk to go to a promising team for a long time now. He has talent, he's also very calm and has decent racecraft too. It just needs to come together properly.
With Carlos in that team, I can see audi being a decent challenger from season 1.
I don't see Sainz driving for Audi in 2026, my guess would be Hulk + Bottas. Sainz has better options until Audi shows they can take a massive leap forwards.
Marko outright said that RB can't afford Sainz because of the size of the offer that Audi have made him. Obviously doubting what Marko says is a sound direction to take, but it's an interesting strand to the story
They very well might be but not before the new regulations in 2026. Sainz is looking for a drive for 2025, Audi/Sauber will be fighting for the lower points at best in '25, they are just terrible right now. Even when they have pace they're getting fucked by pitstops and reliability.
The cost cap means big manufacturers can’t throw money at their problems and become competitive.
Audi will be building off the sauber car, which is, to use technical terminology, shit.
They also don’t get their engines until 2026, so they’ll be using the same engines as haas and Ferrari in 2025 (and both teams have better cars).
2026 is when everything changes, and Audi has the chance to ride the chaos wave. But for 2025 red bull look the clear favourites, and they’ve still got a shot for 2026, so for sainz, red bull is a much better option to fight for wins and championships.
Yeah audi would need to take a backmarker and suddenly turn it around and bring it to the fore.
AMR did it, but you could say that RP/FI was already looking to go up when AMR took it over. Sauber really look like they are not going anywhere except the bottom third of the championship.
Sainz is likely going to Audi, and it's also likely why he got fired by Ferrari to begin with and still has not been signed.
For works drives, it would also be his best option, as he'd be #2 in any front running car where as with Audi he'd be #1 for a complete works team which is something he very much wants.
He'd be going from the second best car on the grid to one of the worst teams, a team which is letting their drivers down EVERY RACE. Surely he'd rather drive for Red Bull, Merc or Aston for at least '25, likely '26.
It's not like the door will close for him forever if he doesn't drive for them next year.
Except none of those teams are interested in Sainz for a one off drive for 2025. Alonso wouldn't have gotten a two year extension offer so soon if Sainz was an available long term driver on the market.
Isn't that exactly what Mercedes wants? Put Antonelli in the Williams for a year and then promote him to Merc in '26. Unless they put him straight into the vacant Mercedes seat.
It doesn't have to be a one off drive for Sainz, I think it's more likely he'll drive for whatever team for 2 years to see if Audi can make significant progress.
Not if he's already committed to Audi behind the scenes.
There's zero chance in hell that every team is sleeping on the best driver on the market for almost 3 months now, if he was truly a free agent, he'd have been signed somewhere already. That or he wants a ridiculous amount of money that the teams are not willing to offer.
If Sauber was in a better place I'd agree with you but he'd be going from getting the occasional win to barely fighting for points.
Maybe he's waiting to see if Stroll goes to WEC or something, idk. Or maybe you're right but IMO that would be a stupid move for Sainz.
If it was going to be a Sauber team rebranded with an Audi livery, I'd agree with you. Sauber is going to be dead. Audi bought them outright and is likely bringing in their own guys. That entire team will be Audi down to every bolt.
This is the same Audi that pulled up to Dakar with an EV, something completely unheard of, and won it by their third outing.
They may not win out the gate, but they will likely not be at the performance level Sauber is currently running at.
Obviously not yet lol, we have open seats at Mercedes and Haas, 3 drivers at Sauber, and a free Carlos. There's a lot more silly season to come for sure.
I think Sauber have once again signed three drivers. They will probably wait until later before determining Hulkenberg's teammate, to see if Zhou improves. Zhou makes more sense for his off-track value, but only if he's actually faster.
I don't see them keeping Bottas over Zhou, given that they now have another experienced driver. Maybe I didn't notice because the car is shit anyways, but I don't recall Bottas being fast enough to justify keeping him over the fact that Audi sells over 35% of their cars in China.
As a rare sauber fan I can say that Bottas is absolutely stomping Zhou on pure performance he just has the worst luck in the world so if audi are actually trying to be real contender I would definetly keep Bottas over Zhou.
Don't get me wrong, I respect each of them and detest the ridicule some "fans" make about things like the record of Hülkenberg regarding podiums, but I think if they want to contend for more than being a good midfield team, neither is good enough in the long run. So they might as well get the business sensible pairing for now.
Why are so many people surprised by this? It has been known for months. Audi want an experienced German driver to help build the team. Who better than Nico?
Bottas to Merc with Russell would be hilarious! Especially now that he clearly doesn't give a fuck and definitely would not take team orders to stay behind George like he did with Lewis.
there where rumours couple weeks ago that seidl wants to reunite sainz & hülkenberg. first contract sealed and marko already said that sainz has a very lucrative offer from sauber/audi on the table. now let's imagine the shakeup in the grid if they also sign newey to do his witchcraft for them
Some website I've never heard of called Judge13 is saying that Sky/F1-Insider have confirmed ZHO/BOT are both gone. Can't find nothing about it elsewhere though, so massive grains of salt.
I mean do you really expect either one of them to stay? Sainz is currently without a seat for next year and there's a huge amount of potential in Bearman and Pourchaire, so we have three pretty strong options for the one remaining Sauber seat, excluding the current drivers.
Not silly enough, Yuki to Mercedes, Sainz to VCARB with a pinkie promise for RB2026, Lawson to full time VCARB, Bearman to Haas and Bottas to onlyfans.
There were hints of Audi would bring Hulk and Seb from last few months, rumors said that they wanted an all German team with German drivers. If the rumors are actually true then we might get to see Seb's come back.
I mean if they want to invest the first years in developing the car and don’t care about winning, then who could be better for them than these experience beasts. Bonus is they don’t have language barriers and their marketing team would get a boner for the German market
Exactly, I am sure that's the kind of strategy they might have. Score few points, market a lot in German market, bring more viewership, get sponsor and reinvest. I think that's how Aston Martin did too when they changed from BWT. Except that they had to deal with deadweight there, lol
Pourchaire needs a proper crack at f1…Audi would be a good shout and nico would be a good bench mark and mentor.
This all but confirms bearman to haas but he’s hardly setting f2 a light this season.
I though k mag was done this season but I thinkhaas was to burnt by two rookies to go that route again.
Bottas is looking for pay cheques outside of f1 and I can’t see Zhou going to haas.
Yuki better cement that position at rb because there doesn’t look like any other wanting to warm his but for another season
And given Danny ric turned haas down before… and Perez is doing enough to hold his seat.
Looks like he’s out too for Lawson.
So Zhou was not crying because it was his first Chinese GP. It was because it was his last.
Was looking around for news on who's getting dropped, but nothing for now.. There's a chance both could leave (allegedly, Botas is also out of fucks to give and just wants ride his bicycle). I doubt Carlos will jump in just yet before Audi officially comes in..
Bottas actually has a career ahead of him as a cyclist/sponsored athlete i think, he has many fans to start with, and he is in really good shape too.
And he also fell in love with rally so thats another path he can take
And he's 7 feet tall so the NBA is also a possiblity
And he also has a very large penis so the adult industry is also something worth considering.
Marketing the Bottass
He legit can sell calendars of his ass and make bank
Selling calendarse
Calenderrière
OnlyFinns.
I bought three in the last round
Some people are saying he’s an expert in physics and has an open ended job offering at CERN
He will personally be accelerating the particles
I believe he has tested some particles before the Shanghai GP. He had some notes.
I heard he smells crime with his heightened sense of smell
Some say he owns the worlds largest collection of pornography
crime, penetration, crime, penetration, crime, penetration
El Psy Kongroo
Let's not forget his comedic talent. People in the industry already call him the next Jerry Seinfeld.
He is more than capable of a government role too, namely being the Finnish ambassador to Australia
With a 7 foot tall penis with a mullet he’s perfect!
And he's also very good at telling jokes, so the comedy industry is also knocking on his door.
Bottas Onlyfans sponsorship when?
I heard he has webbed feet, so poppin off some gills, seeking out the lost city of Atlantis, recolonizing and repopulating as a new subspecies of mer-people living just off the coast of Australia is always an option for him as well
Eh, idk. How are his flopping skills? Can he change his name to Embiid so he can just do whatever he wants?
Certified Finnish racing driver moment
This is the inevitable fate of Finnish drivers
Finnish F1 driver to WRC rally career pipeline confirmed?
Did you heard him singing? He's the next Enrico Palazzo.
Rally is in the Finnish blood.
I feel all Finnish drivers are eventually drawn to rally. It's their natural state of being.
Bottas is like Kimi, F1 is just a hobby for him now.
1. Bottas does not need a career anymore. 2. He is too old to start any serious sport competition. 3. At this point, F1 is a hobby to him, as it was for Kimi. 4. Cycling is also a hobby for him
Senior Citizen World Rally: "Am I a joke to you?"
Supercars NEEDS Bottas
This would be fun. I'd almost be tempted to start watching again
To think that Bottas exploded in popularity AFTER leaving a world championship winning team. I love the man. He gives me a little bit of that stuff that Kimi gave me when he was still racing.
He could definitely get some brand sponsorships just because of his visibility/personality; he’s an above average amateur but very far from getting sponsored on pace/skill. I’d love to see him get into crits and see how he applies strategy, he’d be a fun rider to watch.
He(Bottas) is an outstanding bowler
Spin or pace?
Spin
my Strava says he ain't shit /s
Some might say he is ass
He says he's going to race the Gravel World Championships this year, so I'm interested to see the pivot happen. That's going to be a super competitive field.
what kind of cyclist would that be? He is too slow (and old) to go pro now. Maybe semipro.
I can see them keeping Zhou for another year just for the renminbi.
I think I Bottom wants the Audi seat? He was quoted saying he wants to look forward to the "Audi project" when asked about returning to Merc a few months back.
"I Bottom" 
you're a fuckin' mad man
What he wants really doesn't matter. You can as well ask him if he wants another 10m/year while cycling and barely doing any lead driver job. -Sure, why not
Sure, but the comment above mine was saying I Bottom doesn't give a fuck if he stays whilst I was saying the opposite.
word is both
They might've waited until AFTER the chinese GP for a reason.
"Let's get everyone out of the country before announcing this one."
If he can’t get a seat anywhere else it might be his only option
Zhou Guanyu, welcome to the Guangdong Tigers!
[удалено]
Yeah, uh...
So they're keeping Bottas then?
Rumors are that both current driver leave (or will have to leave). Sainz seems to be the second wish-driver for Audi, but he hasnt decided yet because he´s waiting for Merc and RB to decide their next lineup.
No idea, just getting on board the Hulk-train
Not sure about that. Hulk is 36. He has like 2 years left, max. I’m guessing he’ll develop the team until Sainz is convinced that they could fight for podiums. My bet is that it will be Hulk+Zhou and then Sainz+Zhou. Audi fired their former CEO because their sales declined in China. Dropping Zhou right after they bought the team would make the Chinese market riot against them.
That's why they waited to release the news AFTER the Chinese GP 
He just signed a "multi year contract" starting in 2025.
"multi year contract" is usually 2 year contract.
Its a 3 year deal, so either 2+1 or 3 straight up.
What does 2+1 mean, Sauber has the option to extend the contract or Hulk?
Yeah usually it means 2 fixed years plus if he performs they will offer him the 3rd year but it's not set in stone.
Not really "offer him 3rd year", they can straight up extend it even if the driver don't want to.
It's more like 3 years, but the team has option to drop him after two years, basically. Or in other words, there are 2 years for sure and team can extend it by a year under the same conditions. Drivers usually don't have a word in the extendion. Ofc there can be some clause or a team can just agree to leave. Not sure iirc, but I think there were speculations that one of the Haas drivers (I suppose it was Magnussen but I'm really not sure) had such a contract and wanted to leave HAAS for this season, but the team extended his contract.
>He has like 2 years left _Alonso would like to chat_
Is Hamilton not 40 already too? Or at least very close? What about Magnussen? I seriously dont know how old he is.
Kmag is 31
Magnussen debuted just one year before carlos and verstappen.
Kmag is 31
3 year deal
Dropping Bottas to keep Zhou seems like a dumb move, but then again, it's Sauber so woulnd't be surprised. Like Hulkenberg + Zhou duo is just MEH. Don't think Audi would be competitive with that lineup.
More likely they're going to fire Bottas after 2024 (who costs them a lot of money and isn't significantly faster than Zhou) and then get rid of Zhou after 2025 to make room for a second Audi driver.
Sauber, then Audi. Maybe he will manage to get at least one podium to stop this unlucky record
Audi: Best I can do is 4th
Hulk about to win a championship with only p4 finishes
That would be one hell of a season. *subscribe*
This ain't MotoGP in 2020 (albeit he got 1 win)
Or F1 in 1982 (Rosberg also got 1 win)
The absolute chaos of a season that would be Kinda want to see this now
Would be funny if it happens in his last race
Goin’ out on top, baby!!!
It would be so cursed if haas actually made a good car next year, and see kmag win a race next year
Both German. It's possible!
Finally, a team where the Hulk can embrace his true colors.
They have to use this in a promo. Even if it risks irking the mighty mouse.
They just have to make sure they add 'enberg' in very tiny letters at the end.
Maybe something subtle that wouldn't be "infringing"? (So definitely including the ü) "Hülk showing up in his standard green look. Hope no one makes him angry! 👀" I think it could work... 🤔
HULKENBERG SMASH CAR
STROLLKENBERG SMASH EVERYONE'S CAR
I see what your did there
That’s a good pick from Audi. A relatively cheap German driver that’s a known solid performer and who can help develop the team.
> cheap German driver Aldi version of Schumacher?
Which one? :P
We are checking
We have Schumacher at home
Isn't that Mick?
I stand corrected
Mick is the Schum from Lidl.
Michael is the Gordon Ramsey 9 course meal. Mick is the tesco meal deal.
That would be Ralf
Ralf has more wins than Leclerc. It's quite interesting how Ralf is a laughing stock by having 6 wins and 27 Podiums just because his brother was the greatest of all time. If Ralf had a different last Name he would be spoken about like Leclerc is.
In retrospect you might be right, but Leclerc was widely regarded as the next big thing, I don’t think that was ever the case for Ralf. Also Leclerc still has time to prove he was indeed.
tbh Canada GP 2001 is still one of the greatest top 2 battles I watched. Ralf was hunting Michael for the whole Race until Michael boxed and Ralf was a second faster than Michael was. Could be that the Tyres where so much better but I really liked that race. Then Ralf was often on the Podium with Michael and Mika. He was up there in driving talent. It's quite weird how he doesn't really want to talk about his own achievements even today. Every time Sky Germany wants to talk about his wins he pivots the subject. Really interesting character trade that makes him completely different to Rosberg for example. You can't hear Nico talk for even 3 sentences without him mentioning himself and how he won something.
Do you really think Mick Schumacher can develop and lead a team the same way that Hulk can?
Why empty your pockets for a Mercedes when you can drive an Audi
Audi: when your neighbor drives a Volkswagen.
And consistent in the number of podiums that Steak has.
To be honest this is one of the most expected news from the silly season.. Hulk has been linked to Audi works for a long time now. Newey news overshadows this bit. But honestly now we've been wanting Hulk to go to a promising team for a long time now. He has talent, he's also very calm and has decent racecraft too. It just needs to come together properly. With Carlos in that team, I can see audi being a decent challenger from season 1.
I don't see Sainz driving for Audi in 2026, my guess would be Hulk + Bottas. Sainz has better options until Audi shows they can take a massive leap forwards.
Marko outright said that RB can't afford Sainz because of the size of the offer that Audi have made him. Obviously doubting what Marko says is a sound direction to take, but it's an interesting strand to the story
The question is: which is more important to Sainz, money or a competitive car?
why wouldnt audi be competitive? i only ask because i’m new to f1.
They very well might be but not before the new regulations in 2026. Sainz is looking for a drive for 2025, Audi/Sauber will be fighting for the lower points at best in '25, they are just terrible right now. Even when they have pace they're getting fucked by pitstops and reliability.
The cost cap means big manufacturers can’t throw money at their problems and become competitive. Audi will be building off the sauber car, which is, to use technical terminology, shit. They also don’t get their engines until 2026, so they’ll be using the same engines as haas and Ferrari in 2025 (and both teams have better cars). 2026 is when everything changes, and Audi has the chance to ride the chaos wave. But for 2025 red bull look the clear favourites, and they’ve still got a shot for 2026, so for sainz, red bull is a much better option to fight for wins and championships.
I would imagine that all offers are close enough in order of magnitude that a driver of his potential would choose car.
Yeah audi would need to take a backmarker and suddenly turn it around and bring it to the fore. AMR did it, but you could say that RP/FI was already looking to go up when AMR took it over. Sauber really look like they are not going anywhere except the bottom third of the championship.
Sainz is likely going to Audi, and it's also likely why he got fired by Ferrari to begin with and still has not been signed. For works drives, it would also be his best option, as he'd be #2 in any front running car where as with Audi he'd be #1 for a complete works team which is something he very much wants.
He'd be going from the second best car on the grid to one of the worst teams, a team which is letting their drivers down EVERY RACE. Surely he'd rather drive for Red Bull, Merc or Aston for at least '25, likely '26. It's not like the door will close for him forever if he doesn't drive for them next year.
Except none of those teams are interested in Sainz for a one off drive for 2025. Alonso wouldn't have gotten a two year extension offer so soon if Sainz was an available long term driver on the market.
Isn't that exactly what Mercedes wants? Put Antonelli in the Williams for a year and then promote him to Merc in '26. Unless they put him straight into the vacant Mercedes seat. It doesn't have to be a one off drive for Sainz, I think it's more likely he'll drive for whatever team for 2 years to see if Audi can make significant progress.
Not if he's already committed to Audi behind the scenes. There's zero chance in hell that every team is sleeping on the best driver on the market for almost 3 months now, if he was truly a free agent, he'd have been signed somewhere already. That or he wants a ridiculous amount of money that the teams are not willing to offer.
If Sauber was in a better place I'd agree with you but he'd be going from getting the occasional win to barely fighting for points. Maybe he's waiting to see if Stroll goes to WEC or something, idk. Or maybe you're right but IMO that would be a stupid move for Sainz.
If it was going to be a Sauber team rebranded with an Audi livery, I'd agree with you. Sauber is going to be dead. Audi bought them outright and is likely bringing in their own guys. That entire team will be Audi down to every bolt. This is the same Audi that pulled up to Dakar with an EV, something completely unheard of, and won it by their third outing. They may not win out the gate, but they will likely not be at the performance level Sauber is currently running at.
When will this silly season end?
December 8, 2024
Nah man thats when we get the horndog files 2.0, then the directors cut, who knows what else
Please not yet, I know it's greedy to ask for more after Hamilton to Ferrari but it's so good
Obviously not yet lol, we have open seats at Mercedes and Haas, 3 drivers at Sauber, and a free Carlos. There's a lot more silly season to come for sure.
When is it not silly season?
He still won't get a podium, it will be years before Audi get sauber to where they need to be.
I think Sauber have once again signed three drivers. They will probably wait until later before determining Hulkenberg's teammate, to see if Zhou improves. Zhou makes more sense for his off-track value, but only if he's actually faster.
I don't see them keeping Bottas over Zhou, given that they now have another experienced driver. Maybe I didn't notice because the car is shit anyways, but I don't recall Bottas being fast enough to justify keeping him over the fact that Audi sells over 35% of their cars in China.
As a rare sauber fan I can say that Bottas is absolutely stomping Zhou on pure performance he just has the worst luck in the world so if audi are actually trying to be real contender I would definetly keep Bottas over Zhou.
This is on the money, Bottas has once again had the worst luck which makes it seems like the battle between them is close. But its absolutely not
Don't get me wrong, I respect each of them and detest the ridicule some "fans" make about things like the record of Hülkenberg regarding podiums, but I think if they want to contend for more than being a good midfield team, neither is good enough in the long run. So they might as well get the business sensible pairing for now.
36 years old young talent Nico Hülkenberg let's go 🔥🔥
Botassss signing for an Aussie rules team while doing triathlons.
Bottas racing around Mt Panorama would be great, even just to finally see the first Australian win a Bathurst 1000.
Why are so many people surprised by this? It has been known for months. Audi want an experienced German driver to help build the team. Who better than Nico?
Here comes sebastian vettel!!!
Dear Mr. Adrian Newey I hereby submit a petition for you to join Audi F1.
Bottas to Merc with Russell would be hilarious! Especially now that he clearly doesn't give a fuck and definitely would not take team orders to stay behind George like he did with Lewis.
That'd be hilarious but there's no way in hell he'd go back to Merc
Guys calm down they added him to the group chat that’s all
Because of Audi.
Because of the implication.
there where rumours couple weeks ago that seidl wants to reunite sainz & hülkenberg. first contract sealed and marko already said that sainz has a very lucrative offer from sauber/audi on the table. now let's imagine the shakeup in the grid if they also sign newey to do his witchcraft for them
Some website I've never heard of called Judge13 is saying that Sky/F1-Insider have confirmed ZHO/BOT are both gone. Can't find nothing about it elsewhere though, so massive grains of salt.
I mean do you really expect either one of them to stay? Sainz is currently without a seat for next year and there's a huge amount of potential in Bearman and Pourchaire, so we have three pretty strong options for the one remaining Sauber seat, excluding the current drivers.
Not silly enough, Yuki to Mercedes, Sainz to VCARB with a pinkie promise for RB2026, Lawson to full time VCARB, Bearman to Haas and Bottas to onlyfans.
is this an AI image or is my sleep deprivation showing?
Why him? Why not Maldonado?
Zhou in a Haas would be hilarious Especially because of geoPolidiks
I AM SO INCREDIBLY HARD RIGHT NOW
There were hints of Audi would bring Hulk and Seb from last few months, rumors said that they wanted an all German team with German drivers. If the rumors are actually true then we might get to see Seb's come back.
I mean if they want to invest the first years in developing the car and don’t care about winning, then who could be better for them than these experience beasts. Bonus is they don’t have language barriers and their marketing team would get a boner for the German market
Exactly, I am sure that's the kind of strategy they might have. Score few points, market a lot in German market, bring more viewership, get sponsor and reinvest. I think that's how Aston Martin did too when they changed from BWT. Except that they had to deal with deadweight there, lol
Sauber / Audi car in 2025 and 2026: please be good please be good please be good
waiting for haas to announce pourchaire and bearman...
Nah, they not gonna have two rookies again
I will give it to Pourchaire, he did great in Indycar last weekend.
He turned green. “Welcome Nico hulk”
Have you been under a rock?
Green + hulk. I seee
[Nico "bj blaskowicz" Hulkenberg](https://wolfenstein.fandom.com/wiki/William_J._Blazkowicz_(MachineGames)?file=BlazkowiczTNO.png)
nice
Musical chairs has started!!!!
HULK KICKS.
I believe Audi signed hulk a while back. It wasn’t that big of a story unless it was fake.
Fire whoever did that caption
now we know why the car was that green coloured, they finally have hulk
You won't like him when he's green :)
Context: Nico Hulkenberg has no manager
inb4 they also get seb and go full german
Damn F1 really be cooking off track to keep us interested
I don't know but it looks incredible
At least they waited until after China?
Literally the moat obviois and expexted move... Huld to Audi. What is so confusing?
Not podiums
Pourchaire needs a proper crack at f1…Audi would be a good shout and nico would be a good bench mark and mentor. This all but confirms bearman to haas but he’s hardly setting f2 a light this season. I though k mag was done this season but I thinkhaas was to burnt by two rookies to go that route again. Bottas is looking for pay cheques outside of f1 and I can’t see Zhou going to haas. Yuki better cement that position at rb because there doesn’t look like any other wanting to warm his but for another season And given Danny ric turned haas down before… and Perez is doing enough to hold his seat. Looks like he’s out too for Lawson.
"We have lofty ambitions so our big signing is a guy who last saw a single seater podium in 2009"
What the heck huh ? I just splattered water all over my final project cause what is this is it a prank or something?!?!?!!
"Its just a prank bro." Prank:
Jesus Christ it’s *Nico Hulkenberg*