Former F1 driver takes aim at Bottas after Seidl move

After the surprising move from McLaren's Andreas Seidl to move away from the team to take up a new role as CEO of Sauber, questions have arisen over the future plans of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

The appointment of Seidl is said to align with the strategic takeover of Sauber from Audi, with the brand set to enter as an engine manufacturer in 2026.

Bottas has previously said he would like stick around for the evolution of the project, but Ralf Schumacher believes it might not as straightforward and that his time could be "counted" in the future.

"I'm curious what ideas Andreas Seidl has with the drivers, there are also rumours," he told MotorsportTotal.

"Zhou is more or less set, brings a lot of money with him, which is not unimportant until 2026, when Audi really comes.

"But Bottas, one hears a bit, is counted and should not necessarily stay there too long."

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Schumacher: Seidl right man for the Audi job

Schumacher says the move from Seidl is the right step for him given his pervious experience working with the Volkswagen Group on their Porsche LMP1 programme.

"The experience that Andreas Seidl previously had with Porsche prototypes, now with the formula at McLaren, is of course worth a lot of money, and he brings a lot into it," he explains.

"And accordingly, that will also work pretty well. Sauber is also consolidated, you have to say you didn't have a bad car at all this year."

Zak Brown confirmed that Seidl told him he did not wish to stay to the end of his contract in 2025.

McLaren's James Key also recently spoke to TheFOXposts.Com exclusively about how the team is lagging behind in its infrastructure redevelopment due to Covid, something Schumacher believes could be the reason for Seidl's departure.

"I think that in the end, it will all take a while [at McLaren]," he said.

"This year the whole issue is lagging behind a bit. I also believe that the restructuring, the construction of the wind tunnel, which is urgently needed, is holding up [the team] at the moment. That may have taken too long [for Seidl]."

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