Mercedes-Benz Media
Valtteri Bottas, off the back of being announced as Mercedes’ reserve driver for 2025, has made his feelings towards his previous F1 team Kick Sauber known.
For Valtteri Bottas, 2024 was a season to forget in Formula 1. The Finn scored 0 points and finished 22nd and last in the driver’s championship. It was his worst year yet since he joined F1 in 2013.
In that first full-time season 11 years ago Bottas was driving for Williams and he managed to score 4 points and finish 17th in the standings. He had three more strong seasons at Williams finishing 4th, 5th and 8th in the standings consecutively.
Bottas then moved to Mercedes to be wingman for Lewis Hamilton. This was his best stint in F1, taking 10 victories and finishing top 3 in the standings in four out of five seasons from 2017 to 2021.
Since leaving Mercedes, Bottas’ results have gradually declined. He finished 10th overall with Alfa Romeo in 2022, 15th in 2023 and now 22nd without a single point driving for the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber in 2024.
As the 2024 season drew to a close, Kick Sauber announced their driver lineup for 2025. It features Nico Hulkenberg who moved over from HAAS and the rookie Brazilian F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto joining the Stake F1 team.
That left Valtteri without a drive as all other seats on the F1 grid looking to be filling up. Bottas didn’t have any intentions on giving up in F1, however. His new motto became ‘What’s Next?’ and he kept his fans guessing about his moves in 2025.
He even released a new sweater with the What’s Next logo on it that was available to buy in limited numbers. In a dig at the Kick Sauber F1 team, he said parts of the proceeds from the sweater sales would go to a charity that helps people dealing with sudden job loss.
As fans continued to speculate about Valtteri’s future career moves, he kept us guessing even further by deciding to get a What’s Next? tattoo on his left thigh.
He also had his new motto painted on the top of his helmet for the Abu Dhabi GP, the final race of the 2024 season.
However, we haven’t had to wait too long to find out what’s next for Bottas. In a move that not many people saw coming, Bottas has returned to the Mercedes F1 team to be their third (reserve) driver for 2025.
Returning to the team where he’s had the most success seems like a sensible move for Valtteri in the absence of other options. Granted, it means there’ll be a lot of standing around for Valtteri who’ll be frustrated at not being able to race himself.
Mercedes’ driver lineup for 2025 includes the rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli who Bottas will undoubtedly be helping get up to speed. But if Antonelli struggles under the pressure of performing in a front-running car in his first season, Bottas will be waiting in the wings to step in and take his seat.
Bottas is obviously pleased to be leaving the Kick Sauber Stake F1 team, who had the slowest car on the Formula 1 grid over the last couple of seasons. On a trip to Australia in the winter break, Bottas was provided with a GLS63 AMG loan car by Mercedes of Australia.
Valtteri posted a photo from behind the wheel of his loan car on Instagram stories, with the simple 2-word caption ‘Proper Car’.
That’s a dig not just at his old F1 team Kick Sauber and their slow car, but to Audi who are taking over the Sauber team from 2026 onwards. Valtteri’s post will fuel the German car manufacturer battle between Audi and Mercedes that we look forward to seeing in a couple of season’s time.
