Valtteri Bottas has effectively reiterated his availability to Red Bull's Formula 1 team for next season but is aware his chances seem to be impacted by at least one person there who is "not a big fan of mine".
Bottas is spending 2025 back at Mercedes as a reserve driver after losing his Sauber seat, which he had hoped to keep into its Audi works team era that begins in 2026.
Although Bottas turns 36 in August, he is still keen to extend his F1 career and his management has held talks with various teams to some degree - including Red Bull, Alpine and the incoming Cadillac entry.
However, initial Red Bull conversations also took place for this season when he was looking around for a drive, and did not get far.
This is believed to be because Red Bull senior motorsport advisor Helmut Marko does not rate Bottas highly and was known to be incensed by the first-corner crash he caused in the Hungarian Grand Prix during Max Verstappen's 2021 title battle with Bottas's then-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
"It just [got] put down quite quickly because I think there's certain persons, or a person, within the Red Bull organisation that for some reason is not a big fan of mine," Bottas said on the most recent episode of F1's official Beyond The Grid podcast.
"I don't know if they look outside their academy. They have so many drivers, they've got their junior team as well.
"It's a tough one because it seems like it's not an easy car to drive. Obviously Max is doing the job. He's really pushing almost beyond the limits of the car. And whoever has been alongside him hasn't looked great.
"But I don't know. I just wonder if that car, to be driven fast, needs a driver with experience.
"That's my speculation, but I think they know that I'm keen to race. They know that I would be available for next year.
"But I don't know their mindset on that."
Red Bull has gone back to choosing its own drivers to partner Verstappen after pairing him with the experienced Sergio Perez for the last four seasons.
That was a result of juniors Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon being burned by the increasingly tricky to drive Red Bulls as Verstappen's place as the team's number one driver became ever more assured, and its cars were developed around his preferences and feeling in the car.
But Red Bull has already dumped Perez's replacement Liam Lawson this season, after only two races, and Yuki Tsunoda has failed to make a particularly strong impression since claiming the seat either.
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar has risen up Red Bull's pecking order, though, so unless his impressive rookie season takes a negative turn he would almost certainly be ahead of Bottas on any Red Bull list for 2026 drives.
Due to most drivers being under contract next year, Bottas does not have a great range of options to get back on the grid.
Cadillac has seemed to be his best chance, with extension conversations held between Bottas, his representatives, and senior Cadillac F1 figures.
However, Cadillac has also held talks over signing Sergio Perez, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher, so Bottas is far from the only driver in the frame and there is no indication that Cadillac is in a rush to make a decision.
Bottas said "August more or less is a pretty good target" to have his future known, and said Cadillac is a "very interesting project".
"If I would be there as a driver, it would be actually very interesting because you can start from scratch, the team starts from zero and you could actually make a big influence on certain things, which direction to go," said Bottas.
"That would be very motivating and rewarding when the success comes."
One alternative, though, could be Mercedes' customer team Alpine, which is currently in an uncertain situation in terms of drivers.
Alpine dropped Jack Doohan after just six races this season - although he is still part of the organisation on a long-term contract - and his replacement Franco Colapinto has had a poor initial three races in the seat. Young driver Paul Aron is also in the picture there as a reserve.
But Alpine has had "some discussions" with Bottas's management team, he said, and Alpine is known to be open to taking a more experienced driver from outside its own pool, a la Red Bull.
"They do have a Mercedes power unit for the future, which I think is a good call," said Bottas.
"They're on the second driver this year and I think the next races will show how that goes again.
"Experience can always help but there's lots of politics in this sport. I don't have tens of millions to pay for a seat for example.
"It depends on the team, but I do have some personal partners that could potentially join me but not to the extent to some others.
"Let's wait and see if you race to see how things go. You never know if something opens up."
If an F1 seat is not possible, Bottas said "everything is wide open" - and has reiterated his interest in IndyCar having flirted with the idea late last year when he got an offer for a 2025 seat.
"Ovals, I've never tried them, but I've got no concerns," said Bottas.
"If it's not Formula 1 next year for me, I definitely need to figure out what is the plan B, and one option definitely is IndyCar.
"And if that would be the case I would want to commit to many years because I know it's not going to be easy.
"It's a different category, different cars, different tracks. But let's not talk about it too much yet, try to stay within F1."
