Valtteri Bottas will be a Mercedes driver again in 2025 as their ‘third driver’.
The driver who won 10 grands prix for Mercedes between 2017 and 2021 was left without a drive for next year when he was dropped by Sauber.Bottas said he “couldn’t be more pleased” with his next career move, despite facing his first year on the sidelines of F1 since 2012.
“Despite the challenges of the past few years, I know that I’ve still got so much more to contribute to F1,” he said. “Since I was a five-year-old kid growing up in Nastola, Finland, my focus has been on achieving success in the top tier of motorsport. I’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed many incredible moments in my 12 years of racing in F1 so far.
“As I return to the place where so many of those moments were achieved, I’m looking forward to using all the knowledge I’ve gained to help the team to perform and progress towards our goal of fighting for world championships.”
Bottas had been expecting to spend a fifth season at Williams in 2017 when world champion Nico Rosberg unexpectedly left Mercedes, creating a vacancy which he filled. He finished runner-up to team mate Lewis Hamilton in the 2019 and 2020 world championships, and helped Mercedes win the constructors’ titles in all five seasons he drove for them.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff welcomed back his former driver, whom he also managed earlier in his career.
“His impact and contribution in the five years he was with us previously as our race driver was immense,” said Wolff. “Along with scoring multiple grands prix wins, he played a vital role in five of our championship victories.”
Mercedes’ race drivers for 2025 are George Russell, who replaced Bottas in 2022, and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
NB. The above story has been updated as Mercedes originally announced Bottas would be their ‘reserve driver’, then clarified his title is ‘third driver’.
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Jungle
19th December 2024, 12:48
Glad to see he still has a foot in the door. Mr Nice Guy of racing.
“Well sir its actually my corner but ah after you.”
“Thank you kind sir and good day to you.”
“Of course yes thank you. Good day to you too enjoy.”
Can he do a Hulk and just keep morphing?
BLS (@brightlampshade)
19th December 2024, 12:56
Wonder if Mercedes have any doubts about whether Kimi can do it in the big league. Bottas as a back up is a very steady choice who can be called upon if needed. That said I don’t think Mercedes are cut-throat enough to boot a driver mid season.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th December 2024, 13:14
Good point, and Merc know that Valtteri can be relied upon to support rather than challenge George if needs be.
Jungle
19th December 2024, 13:25
Makes you wonder why Audi passed on him. New team they don’t need a rookie they need two experienced campaigners to get them up to speed. Hulk/Bottas. Technical feedback etc. Bottas spent 5 years at Merc FFS.
Mr B
19th December 2024, 20:58
I guess having Toto as your manager helps too!
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th December 2024, 13:11
Good stuff.
I like Botty Boy and it’s good to see him sticking around ;)
Paul (@frankjaeger)
19th December 2024, 13:57
Great natural next step for Bottas, good luck!
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th December 2024, 14:10
I think he’s there as insurance – Toro Rosso has 2 extra drivers they can choose from.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th December 2024, 15:09
Which 2? Hadjar will become a full-time driver, which leaves only Iwasa for the time being (although he’s Honda-affiliated, so in the same difficult situation as Tsunoda) unless you refer to Lindblad & Marti in F2.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th December 2024, 15:15
@jerejj sorry, I meant Mercedes is using Bottas the same way as Red Bull use Toro Rosso drivers. They can’t let Bottas race on their 2nd team. I guess he’s there to help Kimi grow (maybe) and perhaps to help develop the car along with Russell since Kimi is pretty new.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th December 2024, 15:08
Finally, another open secret is official.
Simon
20th December 2024, 20:13
But not “as expected” though…
Sumedh
19th December 2024, 15:21
I see lot of simulator work coming his way. Mercedes had real trouble as the weekend progressed in 2024.
I guess the hope is Bottas can try out multiple setups overnight and help Mercedes maximise every weekend
Coventry Climax
19th December 2024, 18:21
I have no idea what Mercedes actually need Bottas for, except for filling their trash bin a bit more:
Guttierrez, Schumacher, Paffett, Vandoorne, Vesti, Ocon, De Vries, Wehrlein and probably a whole string of other ‘top tier’ drivers. They probably come cheap, but still.
So often have we seen mr. Wolff during races, behind the screen, flanked by a couple of the guys I just mentioned.
He must like the attention, the affirmation and sense of power they give him.
Bottas man, grow a pair, go race in some fun series and keep a bit of dignity. Or did you enjoy being Wolff’s lap dog so much?
Wer
20th December 2024, 17:20
Haha, some nice observations :)
Many F1 drivers are not drivers by heart, or they used to be but F1 has depleted them of any racing spirit. They just love the money and lifestyle. I can’t be mad at that.
Nah, he’s sentimental and a good unkle.
anon
20th December 2024, 22:52
Coventry Climax, I’m not sure where exactly you are getting that list – you seem to be several years out with many of the names on your list at best, and have got some drivers completely wrong at worst.
Paffett drove for Mercedes in DTM, and later in his career he became the team manager of Mercedes’s Formula E team, but he wasn’t ever a test driver for Mercedes – he was McLaren’s test driver, and he has been working as the team manager of McLaren’s Formula E team since 2023.
Wehrlein officially cut his ties with Mercedes in 2018, and has spent most of his subsequent career racing for Porsche in Formula E.
With Vandoorne, he was with Mercedes from 2019-2022, although he was also employed as a reserve by McLaren at the same time. However, at the start of 2023, he left Mercedes and has taken up a role as Aston Martin’s reserve driver (although Vandoorne is also still officially a reserve driver for McLaren as well).
With de Vries, he was a Mercedes reserve driver from 2020-2022, where he was also racing for them in Formula E. However, he left that role to take up his position at Alpha Tauri, and whilst Mercedes indicated they were open to re-hiring him, de Vries is known to have been in talks with McLaren and has tested one of their older cars earlier this year, with Zak stating de Vries is a candidate to replace Bortoleto (who was their reserve driver, but has stepped down from that role to race with Audi next year).
With regards to Ocon, you seem to be mixing up the issue of management work versus an actual role at Mercedes. There is a residual role for Mercedes as a driver management company, where they act as Ocon’s agent, but he isn’t being employed by them and isn’t one of their reserve drivers.
As for Gutierrez, he does carry out some promotional work for Mercedes, but he isn’t a reserve driver – he dropped out of that role back in 2020 when his superlicence expired.
As for Mick Schumacher, your response suggests you didn’t read the announcement earlier this year that he has left Mercedes to take up a full time role in Alpine’s WEC team.
Out of the list of drivers you’ve named, you’ve therefore managed to get seven out of eight of them wrong – only Vesti is actually employed by Mercedes as a reserve driver.
Coventry Climax
21st December 2024, 9:58
Anon,
that’s why I said they are in the trash bin in the first place. All of them had/have connections to Mercedes – read Wolff.
But if proving me wrong is more important to you than getting the gist of what I’m saying, be my guest and enjoy what’s probably an easy task, unless we talk technics.
Wer
21st December 2024, 11:20
Dude, you didn’t get the point. You picked apart the tiny bits and totally missed the big picture that CC’s comment was about. Come on man, you gotta focus more. BIG PICTURE, anon, focus on the big picture.
MichaelN
19th December 2024, 19:34
What, though? He was at the best team ever for many years and did very little with it. In this new role he can’t do any FP1s, and with track time scarce in testing there’s little reason to stick him in a car – especially since Antonelli can use every second of time he can get. Chances are he won’t do anything but work with the simulator and stand next to Wolff in the garage. I’m sure it pays well, but the guy doesn’t need any more money and there are plenty of places he could be racing.
Robert Williams (@weiliwen)
20th December 2024, 1:35
I bet he gets to race an F1 car sometime this coming season.
Moi
20th December 2024, 16:00
I was truly surprised he came back to Merc. Must be so annoying for him to have Princess George strutting about constantly.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
20th December 2024, 18:25
I expect his years of watching Lewis act the GOAT have taught him to be humble.