Valtteri Bottas downplays Williams rumour: 'good friends' with James Vowles

Why might Bottas jump ship?

Bottas moved to Kick Sauber in 2022, who were under the Alfa Romeo banner at the time. The Finn scored 49 points in his first year with the Swiss squad. He scored just 10 in 2023 and is yet to score a point this season for the Kick Sauber team, who have arguably the poorest car on the grid. Bottas has been spotted in the Imola paddock speaking to Williams team principal James Vowles, who spent most of his time at Mercedes as chief strategist. The pair have known each other for a long time, and this affinity could bring Bottas to the British team.

When asked why he was in the Williams motorhome earlier on Saturday, Bottas said: "He's a good friend of mine. I ran out of coffee in our motorhome so I needed to get some from there.

"When you're on a free market you want to check around what's out there. It's a pretty normal situation."

Bottas' Saturday review:

Bottas qualified 16th for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Sauber driver spoke about his performance, too. "It was close to the max. I think in these conditions it's never easy to get 100% in Q1. But it's annoyingly close to hundreds to get through so for sure if you go again you can always find some. But I think that's the same for everyone. All weekend we've been struggling a bit on a single lap here and the same trend continues today. I feel a lot more confident in terms of the race performance relative to the others but it doesn't make life easier when you start from 16th," Said Bottas.

"It's my job in the end to try and make the most out of it. That's what I always aim for. But now, we need to analyse today and then look ahead to tomorrow and see how we can fight for points."

Bottas will be looking to put on a show for the teams who are potentially looking to sign him on race day.