Who should Audi sign alongside Nico Hulkenberg for F1 2025?

Audi are still undecided on who will team up with Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber for the F1 2025 campaign.

It’s ultimately Mattia Binotto’s decision, with the former Ferrari boss joining Audi in August.

Audi could opt for experience or youth – but which route should they go down?

“Driving better than what I did at Mercedes”

On the surface, dropping Valtteri Bottas would be a harsh decision.

Bottas has comfortably outperformed teammate Zhou Guanyu this year, leading 17-1 in the qualifying head-to-head.

While Bottas sits bottom of the F1 drivers’ championship, behind Zhou on countback (Zhou finished P11 in Bahrain), a lack of performance cannot be justification for dropping the Finn. 

Bottas would have scored points on potentially two occasions had Sauber’s pit stop woes not ruined their early-season form.

Bottas himself feels he’s still performing at the top of his game. 

Speaking in Singapore, Bottas said: “I feel like, yes, especially in qualifying this year. I haven't felt any signs of being worse. If anything, you keep getting better with experience.

“You gain more consistency, more confidence. You can solve different issues in a different way. You can adapt to the car the more time you spend in the sport.

“I feel actually I'm driving better than what I did at Mercedes, but obviously it's not that visible.”

In raw pace terms, there’s no doubt that Bottas warrants a place on the F1 grid, and alongside Hulkenberg, Sauber would have an extremely quick, proven driver pairing.

However, given that Sauber are likely to be at the back again in 2025, would it not be a better time to get a youngster up to speed ahead of the arrival of Audi in 12 months’ time?

At 35, Bottas is obviously not the future, and while dependable, the performances of Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto surely prove that opting for a hotshot could be the way to go for the German manufacturer.

Opting for youth

Colapinto’s run of outstanding performances for Williams has potentially shifted the narrative about putting rookies – or less experienced drivers – into F1. 

The Argentine has been a close match for the highly-rated Alex Albon in his three F1 outings, proving to be a significant upgrade on Logan Sargeant.

Williams boss James Vowles has made it clear he’d be open to letting Colapinto join Sauber.

Given Colapinto’s - and Bearman’s - impressive showings this year, perhaps it will tempt Binotto and Audi to go for another Formula 2 driver.

Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto has been heavily linked with a promotion to F1 with Sauber. Bortoleto, who is managed by Fernando Alonso’s ‘A14’, sits top of the F2 standings. 

F1 has not had a Brazilian on the grid since 2017 with Felipe Massa, which would allow Audi to tap into that market again. 

As 2025 is likely to be a write-off for Sauber as they wait for Audi’s full involvement, it would give a less experienced driver time to grow and learn away from the spotlight.

The outside option

Time is running out for Mick Schumacher to save his F1 career. The German was overlooked by Alpine as they chose Jack Doohan as Esteban Ocon’s replacement.

Schumacher has performed well during his stint in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine - but his goal is to return to F1.

“Whatever happens for the future, will be decided at some point still this year, hopefully,” he told Autosport.

“As soon as I know what I will be doing, I will for sure put a press release out there and let you all know.

“But definitely the hope is for Formula 1, because that is what I dreamt of since I was a little boy, but it definitely feels great to be in WEC.”

It’s easy to forget that Schumacher outperformed Kevin Magnussen in the second half of 2022 before being replaced by Hulkenberg. 

An unlikely option, but a second chance for Schumacher would be intriguing to see how he would fare outside of the Haas environment.