Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu fired from Sauber F1 Team after "constructive discussions"

F1 team Kick Sauber Motorsport has announced a drastic decision: it has fired both of its drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, who will not continue the next season. The team, previously known as Alfa Romeo F1 and acquired by Audi, who will rename it Audi F1 Team, was still pointless after 21 races.

Bottas and Guanyu will take part in the three remaining races (Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi), but the team will part ways. It is rumoured that Bottas will sign for Mercedes, while the future of Guanyu, the first ever Chinese F1 driver, is unclear, but he said he is discussing a number of options to also stay in F1.

"After open and constructive discussions with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, we mutually concluded that conditions to continue together could not be met so we agreed that it is time to part ways", the team published on Twitter.

At the same time, the Swiss team has announced that their place will be taken by Nico Hulkenberg as well as Gabriel Bortoleto, who will make the jump to F2. He will be the first Brazilian Formula 1 drive since Felipe Massa in 2017.