IndyCar’s silly season is slowly coming to an end, as the grid waves goodbye to what has been a chaotic championship in 2024.
There are few seats left on the grid for next year, with the big seats all taken up and little in the way of opportunities for drivers wanting a race-winning potential drive.
Alexander Rossi is the premiere free agent on the market and is yet to publicly announce his next destination after deciding to leave McLaren.
PREMA will debut a new two-car operation in 2025 and are also yet to confirm either of their two drivers, although recently dropped Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant has been heavily linked with them.
Valtteri Bottas would ‘quickly find’ an IndyCar seat for 2025
Drivers crossing the pond and joining IndyCar from Formula 1 appears to be quite the theme now, with Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson set to be followed by Sargeant and maybe one more driver.
Valtteri Bottas is without a Formula 1 contract for 2025, and has flirted with the possibility of racing in North America recently.
He would be a headline signing for the series, let alone any team that would receive the fortune of his highly skilled services.
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Finnish countryman Mika Salo has tipped Bottas for the move, but warned that he might come with a hefty price tag.
“He is a skilled driver and a good team player and that speaks for him,” he told the Itla Sanomat newspaper. “He’s not cheap, though, and Bortoleto would certainly be bringing something with him.
“The situation is very difficult for Valtteri. I can’t really say what’s going on, but if I was the team boss, I would prefer to choose an experienced driver.
“I follow IndyCar myself. There are good races and the cars are equal, although those oval tracks are not easy. But I do believe that Valtteri would quickly find a place to drive there.”
Why should teams take a punt on Bottas?
Although the Finn has no IndyCar experience, he has proven over the course of a decade in Formula 1 that he has all the tangibles that make up a great team player.
He backed Lewis Hamilton up at Mercedes for five seasons, claiming 10 race wins and multiple constructors’ championships in that time.
That level of experience is a rare commodity on the driver market, and Juncos Hollinger’s Grosjean has already shown how successful a transition to racing in America can be.
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There might be a seat up for grabs at Chip Ganassi Racing for 2025, but that could quickly be snapped up by any of the superb young talents without a contract for next year yet.
Bottas might have to act quickly if he wants to secure his racing future with a top-tier organisation for the foreseeable future.