“I’m not done yet” - Valtteri Bottas vows to make F1 return after disappointing exit

Valtteri Bottas says he’s “not done yet” with F1 after a disappointing exit from Sauber at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Bottas was forced to retire from the race at the Yas Marina Circuit following contact with Kevin Magnussen.

The Finn had qualified in the top 10, but his race fell apart on the opening lap.

He picked up a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Sergio Perez at Turn 6 and then crashed into the side of Magnussen’s Haas.

Abu Dhabi brings an end to a poor final season for Bottas, who didn’t score a point in any of the 24 races.

Bottas will sit on the sidelines next year after Sauber opted to replace him with F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.

Reflecting on the race at Yas Marina, Bottas said: “Definitely not the ideal finish but these things happen, it’s racing.

“Not the first time, everything just went wrong since Lap 1. The incident, then I got a penalty for it, then I was at the back out of position and later on, got together with Kevin [Magnussen]. It was my bad, I was defending with old tyres and I tried to brake as late as I could but I just couldn’t stop the car.”

He added: “This is not the way I want to finish, which is why I’m not done yet.”

What’s next for Bottas?

According to reports, Bottas is set to return to Mercedes as their third driver next year.

He will support George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, and step in for either of them as a race driver if necessary.

The bad news for Bottas is that if he races again in F1, he will have to serve a five-place grid penalty after the stewards penalised him for colliding with Magnussen.

Bottas still remains lightning fast, as demonstrated by his Q3 appearance in Abu Dhabi.

He also out-qualified Zhou Guanyu 21-3 across the 2024 campaign.

Bottas wants to return to F1 -and perhaps the Cadillac-GM entry will give him that chance.

But if it’s the end for Bottas, he’s had a great career, winning 10 races and over 60 podium finishes.