Mercedes fuel Valtteri Bottas F1 return rumours after Sauber news
Mercedes fuel rumours about a possible return for Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes have fuelled rumours Valtteri Bottas will return to the team as reserve driver with a post on their social channels.
On Wednesday morning, Sauber formally announced Bottas won’t be part of their F1 driver line-up for the 2025 season.
This leaves Bottas without a drive on the 2025 F1 grid.
In terms of his other options, Bottas has been strongly linked with a return to Mercedes as their reserve and simulator driver.
The Finn spent five years at Mercedes between 2017 and 2021, winning 10 races and finishing on the podium 58 times.
Alongside Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes remained unbeaten in the F1 constructors’ championship, seeing off threats from Ferrari in 2017 and 2018, and then Red Bull in 2021.
Bottas could return to Brackley as a back-up to George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The team teased fans with a social media post on Wednesday afternoon.
They posted a picture of Bottas from the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP in relation to a tweet which states “‘I miss him’ and it’s just a sports player”.
Bottas has spent three years at Sauber, guiding them to their best constructors’ finish in a decade with sixth in 2022.
Since then, the Swiss-based outfit has struggled for form.
Despite out-qualifying teammate Zhou Guanyu 20-1 in 2024, he sits bottom of the drivers’ championship, without a point to his name.
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