"Still faster than some of my pitstops": Valtteri Bottas takes a subtle dig at his former team

Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas was seen taking a subtle dig at his former team Sauber in a video floating on social media on Friday. The Finnish driver joined the Hinwil-based outfit in the 2022 season after he was let go by the German team in favor of George Russell.

Despite some initial success, the 10-time F1 race winner failed to score any points throughout the 24 races and six Sprints in the 2024 season and ended his ties with the Swiss team that will be rebranded to Audi in 2026.

Apart from being arguably the slowest team on the grid, Sauber had several issues within the team as well, with one of the most prominent being their wheel guns in the early part of the year which resulted in slow pit stops.

In a video shared by a user on X (formerly Twitter), Valtteri Bottas, who is back in Mercedes as its reserve driver for the 2025 season, was seen in his Adidas team kit trying his hand at making the printing machine work.

He was told to wait for 30 seconds for the process to complete, to which the Finn hilariously remarked:

"Still faster than some of my pitstops," Bottas said.

After the leadership change at Audi F1 last year, Valtteri Bottas expected to be retained but was eventually let go in favor of rookie and F2 champion Gabriel Borteleto after the team announced Nico Hulkenberg as its other driver.

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Valtteri Bottas explains his contract negotiations with Audi in 2024

Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas said that he initially believed he would sign a contract extension with Sauber after former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto signed on as Audi CEO.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365 last week, the Finn reflected on the process and revealed how he was reassured of a seat with Binotto's arrival:

"Coming to the end of my contract, I started having a lot of questions about the future, but I was always very confident that I'd be on the [2025] grid, because that is how it looked. It was hard because I always got the indication, especially when Mattia joined that I would be the pillar for the project, so it was hard to jump 100% into something else because I got promised I would have a seat."

Mentioning how his future with Sauber slowly became unclear, Bottas added:

"Of course, you still want to look around but you can't commit to anything, so then I was just waiting: 'Okay, when do we sign?' and that became a question on a weekly basis even though everything was agreed and ready on paper. When that was delayed, then I kind of understood: 'Okay, there is something going on here and it is not going to be good for me."

Valtteri Bottas also revealed that he had conversations with Williams F1 before they signed Carlos Sainz and had made contact with Haas, but focused more on the Grove-based outfit.