Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes in a new role
In 2025, Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes as a reserve driver, but also to mentor the young Antonelli. It's a homecoming for the Finn, who puts his experience at the service of the new generation.
Valtteri Bottas, the former Mercedes driver, makes his big return in 2025, but in a role very different from the one he held during his five years marked by 10 wins in F1. After being sidelined by Sauber at the end of the 2024 season, the Finnish driver, now 35 years old, returns to the team where he achieved his best results. This time, it’s not about driving but coaching. Part of Valtteri’s role will be to keep an eye on Kimi. He will be there to coach, to have an eye on what’s happening on the track, explains Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes, to PlanetF1. An opportunity for Bottas to utilize his experience, accumulated over years with Mercedes, to guide one of the most promising young drivers in the paddock.
A coaching role for the new generation
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has just obtained his driver’s license, will make his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix in 2025. He will become one of the youngest drivers in F1 history when he debuts at the age of 18, highlights Wolff. The young Italian driver will be able to rely on a determined Bottas to provide him with the keys to succeed. The Mercedes boss emphasized that Bottas will have a mentoring role. Kimi will learn from Valtteri and George. A perfect alliance between experience and youth, which could prove beneficial for the German team. His experience is going to be huge, says George Russell about the Finnish driver on the official Mercedes site, having someone who knows the simulators and the races so well, and who knows the team perfectly, is going to be fantastic.
After leaving Mercedes in 2022, he joined Sauber, which was set to become Audi F1 in 2026. However, the Finn quickly realized that it might not have been the best decision for his career. In his last season, he admitted that joining Sauber was a big mistake. Despite a rather positive first year under Fred Vasseur’s leadership, the team lost its competitiveness after he left for Ferrari. The last two seasons have been marked by a certain decline. Of course, this affects my image as a driver. If you can’t show results, people tend to forget your name, he explained.
A return to the roots
Bottas’ return to Mercedes is a kind of rebirth. The team that welcomed him in 2017 is once again his playground. An environment he knows by heart and seems to be the one in which he can fully flourish. Despite a history of rivalry with George Russell, especially when he was replaced by him at Mercedes in 2022, Bottas appears to have found his place in this new dynamic. “We often travel together and see each other at the hotel or the gym,” admits Russell. For the British driver, Bottas’ return to the team should be a real asset for Mercedes, thanks to his experience with Ferrari engines, which he used at Sauber. “You should always keep an open mind about what others are doing,” notes Russell. “And he has all that under his belt.”
And who knows, this new role as a coach might be the perfect springboard for a potential return to F1 in 2026.
