Earlier this month Sauber announced that Gabriel Bortoleto would be sliding into the second seat with the team for next season, driving alongside Nico Hülkenberg. The move means that Bottas is without a full-time seat in F1 next season, and you might expect that the driver would have taken a bit of R&R with the news. If so, you thought wrong.

Sauber F1 team CEO and CTO, Mattia Binotto, has insisted that the decision to part ways with current driver Valtteri Bottas and make room for Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto was made based on a mutual understanding between him and Bottas.