Bottas returns to Mercedes as third driver three years after losing race seat · RaceFans

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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