Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes F1 as reserve driver

Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes F1 as reserve driver

19th December 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 Team have confirmed Valtteri Bottas will return to the team in a reserve driver role to help drive the team back to championship-winning ways.

Feature image credit: Mercedes F1

Bottas endured a sorry end to his full-time F1 campaign in 2024 as he was forced to retire his Kick Sauber from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with problems, following a collision.

Without a seat for 2025, Bottas was limited in options to remain in Formula 1. However, speculation has swirled which linked the Finnish driver to a reserve role with his former team, Mercedes.

Mercedes have now confirmed Bottas’s return to the eight-time constructors champions as the team’s reserve driver. On the announcement, the Finnish driver said:

“I’m happy to finally answer the question I’ve posed over the past month. Returning home to the Mercedes family as Third Driver for 2025 is what’s next and I couldn’t be more pleased. I want to thank Toto, the team at Brackley, and everyone at the three-pointed star for welcoming me back with open arms.
“Despite the challenges of the past few years, I know that I’ve still got so much more to contribute to F1. 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.”

During Bottas’ time in the Mercedes team, he helped the Silver Arrows secure a total of five consecutive world constructors championships from 2017 to 2021, alongside Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
The Finnish drive also secured 10 race wins, 20 pole positions and 67 podiums with the three-pointed-star team, before he was shipped over Sauber – then under the Alfa Romeo brand – to make room for George Russell’s promotion from Williams.

Mercedes’ F1 Team Principal and CEO, Toto Wolff has praised Bottas’s return to the team. In addition, Wolff claimed Bottas’s qualities, which helped the team win championships, will be ‘incredibly important’ for the team to return to the top with Russell and newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“Welcome home, Valtteri! It’s great to have you back,” commented Wolff. “His impact and contribution in the five years he was with us previously as our race driver was immense. Along with scoring multiple Grands Prix wins, he played a vital role in five of our championship victories.

“His technical feedback and input were important in helping us to those successes and pushing the team forward. Not only that, but he was also a fantastic colleague and team member. His dry sense of humour and personable nature made him a firm favourite with everyone at Brackley and Brixworth.

“In his role as Reserve Driver, all those qualities will be incredibly important in helping us compete for world championships and supporting both George and Kimi on track.”

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryFormula 1 Formula Series News

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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