Valtteri Bottas doubles down on Mercedes stance as F1 2025 comeback rumours swirl

Valtteri Bottas.

As the idea of a Valtteri Bottas Mercedes return continues to be peddled, the current Sauber driver has reiterated that this F1 2025 theory “wouldn’t make much sense to me”.

With seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton on his way to Ferrari for F1 2025, Mercedes has a seat to fill for next season, which has seen Bottas’ name brought into the equation.

Valtteri Bottas against one-year Mercedes comeback

With Mercedes principal and one-third owner Toto Wolff declaring that the team wants to “reinvent” itself, their junior team star Andrea Kimi Antonelli, currently competing in Formula 2, is “definitely” a part of that vision for Wolff.

However, should the Italian not be ready for Formula 1 next season, as he navigates his rookie F2 campaign following the jump up from the Formula Regional European Championship, then Bottas, who won 10 grands prix in his time with Mercedes between 2017-21, has been speculated as an option.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner teased Bottas as an interim option for Mercedes during his appearance on The Red Flags podcast, while 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who served as a Sky F1 pundit at the Canadian Grand Prix, said he had a “feeling” Bottas would return to Mercedes on a one-year deal for F1 2025.

However, Bottas has already poured cold water on that prospect, exclusively telling PlanetF1.com that Mercedes would need to put a multi-year deal on the table for him to consider a return, with his long-term future at Sauber – to become Audi from 2026 – looking uncertain.

Asked if he would be interested in returning to Mercedes, Bottas replied: “Only if it was a lot more than a one-year contract.

“If it was a one-year deal, then it wouldn’t make sense for me. But, for long-term, of course there could be a discussion.”

Four months on from that conversation, Bottas’ stance has not changed, as the Mercedes comeback speculation was brought back up by Finnish publication Iltalehti.

Asked if he had spoken to Wolff, Bottas replied: “We have spoken, we have a good relationship. But one year at Mercedes, it wouldn’t make much sense to me.”

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Slowly the F1 2025 grid is falling into place, with the likes of Sergio Perez and Alex Albon extending their stays with Red Bull and Williams respectively, while Nico Hulkenberg is heading for Sauber, though there is still a great deal of business left to be completed.

And Bottas identified Carlos Sainz – the driver who Hamilton will replace at Ferrari from F1 2025 – as the key domino of the driver market that needs to fall from here.

Williams – Bottas’ other former team – and Sauber are the options seemingly left on the table for Sainz.

“It pretty much depends on what Sainz does,” Bottas confirmed, “then a lot of pieces will fall in the driver’s market.

“That’s what the teams are waiting for and that’s why they haven’t made any decisions.”

Bottas teased that “things will start to happen” this week, as the build-up to the Spanish Grand Prix begins.

“And I will have more information myself,” he added. “It will be interesting to see whether there will be a change in my address or not.”