Valtteri Bottas has given his take on whether Red Bull or Alpine could be options for him as he looks to make a return to the grid, with the Mercedes reserve driver also revealing how far negotiations went with both teams last year when searching for a 2025 drive.

After spending three seasons racing for the Kick Sauber outfit, it was confirmed in November 2024 that the Finn would depart the squad at the end of the campaign, a decision that he admits arrived “too late” for him to find another seat on the grid.

“That was the issue,” Bottas explained to F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast. “[I found out] after Brazil. I think some people knew before me so that really compromised everything, and that’s obviously when I knew that now it’s too late to sort out anything else, so a bit unlucky there.”

Bottas went on to return to Mercedes as a reserve driver for 2025, but the 35-year-old has made no secret of the fact that he is keen to get back to racing – and one team that could potentially have a vacancy in 2026 is Red Bull, the squad having yet to decide on Yuki Tsunoda’s future.

Assessing whether the Milton Keynes-based outfit could be an option, Bottas said: “I don’t know if they look outside their academy. They have so many drivers. They’ve got their junior team as well, the [Racing Bulls]. It’s a tough one because it seems like it’s not an easy car to drive.

“Max [Verstappen] is doing the job. He’s really pushing almost beyond the limits of the car and whoever has been alongside him hasn’t looked great. I just wonder if that car, to be driven fast, needs a driver with experience.

“I think they know that I’m keen to race. They know that I would be available for next year, but I don’t know their mindset on that.”

In terms of whether he spoke with Red Bull about racing for them in 2025, the 10-time race winner added: “It was put down quite quickly because I think there’s certain persons or a person within the Red Bull organisation that for some reason is not a big fan of mine, but that’s life.”

Another possibility could be Alpine, with two drivers – Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto – having already filled the seat alongside Pierre Gasly in 2025 as the squad continue to assess their options.

Bottas is keen to make a return to the grid, having been watching the action from the sidelines so far in 2025

“I think probably there has been some discussions,” Bottas explained. “I haven’t really been involved, but I do have a management team who are always in the background seeing what is out there. They do have a Mercedes power unit for the future, which I think is a good call.

“They’re on their second driver this year and I think the next races will show how that goes. Again, I think on a struggle street, let’s say, experience can always help.

“But there’s lots of politics in this sport. I don’t have tens of millions to pay for a seat. Depends on the team but I do have some personal partners that could potentially join me, but still, not to an extent to some others. Let’s wait and see a few races and see how things go. You never know if something opens up.”

Alpine were another team that Bottas spoke to regarding the chances of racing for them in 2025, but the Finnish driver suggested that the talks did not progress to a serious level as he expected to be staying with Kick Sauber ahead of their transition into Audi in 2026.

“I spoke earlier on last year to quite a few teams because I was naturally going to the end of my contract, but never really jumped in 100 per cent, again because I was always convinced I’m going to be part of the Audi project, which obviously didn’t happen,” said Bottas.