Valtteri Bottas next move tipped as Mercedes boss weighs in on F1 return

Valtteri Bottas has been tipped for a return to the F1 grid, but if not, IndyCar or Le Mans awaits, according to Toto Wolff.

The veteran Finn doesn’t have a race seat in F1 2025, with Bottas returning to Mercedes in a reserve driver role this season after Sauber parted ways with him after a three-year stint with the Swiss squad.

Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas has ambition and talent for F1

The conclusion of Bottas’ tenure at Sauber may yet prove to be the end of his F1 career, having arrived on the grid in 2013 with Williams.

Swapping to Mercedes following Nico Rosberg’s abrupt retirement after 2016, Bottas carved out a very solid career as an F1 frontrunner but, unfortunately for the Finn, he was partnered with Lewis Hamilton who romped to four consecutive titles between 2017 and ’20.

Bottas’ departure to Sauber after 2021 coincided with the Swiss team slowly but surely falling to the back of the grid, and, with the team eyeing up a fresh start ahead of Audi’s arrival next season, Bottas found himself on the sidelines before Mercedes swooped him up as a reserve.

“It’s been really straightforward in terms of starting to work with the team again. So, no surprises there,” Bottas said of the announcement earlier this year.

“I think I said it before. Ideally, I would be up on the grid racing, I hope that could be possible for next season. But for now, obviously, here to work with the team and trying to be as useful as I can. And then we take it kind of month by month, and we see what happens.

“But ultimately, my goal is to be back on the grid in ’26 one way or the other. But if not, then we need to look at other alternatives.”

Team boss Toto Wolff believes the Finn has what it takes to continue to race competitively in F1, although there’s likely no easy way back into the team’s driver line-up as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are expected to be renewed for next season.

If F1 doesn’t work out, Wolff reckons Bottas can easily make a mark in another discipline of motorsport.

“He has the ambition and the talent to come back into Formula 1,” the Austrian told the Bloomberg Hot Pursuit podcast.

“And if that doesn’t fly, he’s gonna make a career in Le Mans or in IndyCar or whatever, because he’s so good.”

Where might Valtteri Bottas end up?

With no obvious path into most of the teams for next season, a strong contender for Bottas’ signature is the burgeoning Cadillac team as Graeme Lowdon’s squad takes shape.

Bottas’ experience and maturity would be a strong quality for the inexperienced team finding its feet, and the Finn has said he finds the idea intriguing.

“For me, I actually see a very interesting project, something new to F1, an American team with maybe a different view to the sport,” he told the Beyond the Grid podcast.

” If I would be there as a driver, it would be actually very interesting because you can start from scratch.

“The team starts from zero. You could actually make a big influence on certain things, which direction to go, and that would be very motivating and rewarding when the success comes.

“I think they have a few drivers on the list. I would imagine my experience will help because now I’ve raced in three different teams, with one of the teams [that] had mega success. With Williams as well, [we] had some great results, so I hope I’m in a good position.”

Certainly, Bottas doesn’t feel that he is ready to join the F1 scrapheap just yet, with the 35-year-old still feeling he has more to give the sport.

“I’m sitting here now without a race seat, not because of my own choice,” he said.

“I definitely still feel – and that emotion was quite quick after I knew I wouldn’t get a seat for this year – that I’m not done yet with F1.

“I still have more to give. It’s still [the] number one thing in my life. That sensation, now that I’ve been watching aside, has got stronger and stronger and stronger, and now I really start to miss racing.

“I haven’t felt any degradation in myself yet. That’s why I just want to keep going. We humans, we have deg, but I don’t have it yet!”

“I know my timeline, when I want to know about next year and what plans do I need to make, which I think, August, more or less, is a pretty good target for that. But hopefully we’ll hear something more soon.”

Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas is his authentic self now

Since leaving Mercedes in 2021, Bottas has embraced his quirky personality and allows his unique sense of humour to be seen.

A new partner in Australian cyclist Tiffany Crimwell has seen Bottas become an ‘honourary Australian’ as he’s grown out a mullet and moustache to create a unique personal look.

This quirky personality continues to be exuded through funny social media videos, with Bottas more than willing to poke fun at himself, as can be seen in this video below.

“Valtteri is just an awesome guy,” Wolff said.

“He’s a super talented driver, and he’s found his… he’s being authentic now.

“I met Valtteri in 2008. He was a young driver without any financial backing, and he was dominating the junior series.

“Then he came into Formula 1 and, unfortunately, ended up with the most successful driver of all time, Lewis Hamilton, as a teammate, in his peak.

“Valtteri was a vice-World Champion many times. He’s won many races. He’s been dominant at some of the circuits, and also against his teammates when he went to Sauber, he just basically crushed them all.

“But then he ended up without a seat and, for us, a huge opportunity to take him back as a reserve.

“I know that if one of our drivers had fish poisoning, I would have the best guy, we would have the best guy in the car to actually perform. So that’s positive.

“On a different note, he has found his brand. He’s an extremely cool guy. He always was, but he’s a Finn. He was introverted, and he’s, in a way, broken free of the Mercedes environment.

“He has this moustache, the hair, and the mullet?

“In the front, you’re efficient, and then, in the rear, you’re fashionable, stylish!

“Valtteri is an individual who can take the mickey out of himself, which is so important; you need to be able to laugh about yourself.”