Testing free agency as a Formula 1 driver can be a risky business. With so few seats available and even fewer capable of challenging for wins, choosing between seats often appears to be a stab in the dark based on faith in those leading the charge and a team’s inherent potential, leading numerous championship-worthy drivers to waste precious years behind the wheel of an uncompetitive car.
With the conclusion of the 2024 season done and dusted, and the free agency market all but played out ahead of 2025, there is no better time to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on some of the biggest mistakes in recent memory.
5. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes to Sauber
Having started his career with a four-year stint at Williams, Valtteri Bottas was brought in by Mercedes to replace retiring reigning World Champion Nico Rosberg for 2017. Teamed with Lewis Hamilton for the next five years, the duo formed a significantly more harmonious partnership than the Briton had experienced with Rosberg.
Race winner Second place Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, celebrate
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Mercedes’ Constructors’ Championship dominance continued throughout Bottas’ time with the team, reclaiming the title during each of his five seasons, while Hamilton clinched the World Drivers’ Championship four times.
Bottas pushed Hamilton throughout, winning three races during the 2017 season on his way to a third-place finish in the championship. While he failed to win a race the following year, Bottas still made his way to the podium on a consistent basis. And the hits continued to come, finishing second in the championship in both 2019 and 2020, and third in 2021, winning another seven races in the process.
But with British youngster George Russell waiting in the wings for an opportunity, Mercedes opted to drop Bottas for the 2022 season. The free agent Fin ultimately landed with the then Alfa Romeo team, led by Fred Vasseur. Bottas’ first season with the team was decent, if unremarkable, reaching the top 10 on nine occasions and failing to reach the podium. Vasseur’s subsequent departure sent the team into a spiral, with Bottas only able to reach the top 10 three times the following season before failing to score a single point in his final year with the renamed Kick-Sauber team.
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
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