Valtteri Bottas pinpoints area he can 'definitely help' Mercedes after heading back to team

Valtteri Bottas believes that he can help in supporting rookie Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, with the Finn preparing to offer his insight and experience to the team after re-joining as a reserve driver for 2025.

The Silver Arrows will field an all-new driver line-up in the season ahead as Antonelli steps up to replace Lewis Hamilton, marking the latest step on the teenager’s rapid trajectory through the motorsport ranks.

Bottas – who has returned to Mercedes after Kick Sauber opted to sign Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto instead of retaining the 35-year-old – was asked during an interview with Sky Sports F1 if he could play a mentor role of sorts to Antonelli as the 18-year-old embarks on his debut season.

“I think mentor is not too far off,” Bottas responded. “When you are a rookie, when you join the sport, there’s so many new things you’ve got to learn and I definitely can help with that. My job is to try and help the team the best I can.

Antonelli will pair up with Russell at Mercedes for his debut season

“Of course, Kimi is a rookie so he will probably have more questions than George [Russell] and the team will have an extra pair of eyes during the race weekend, looking at the data, looking at the driving line, stuff like that.

“I’ll be involved in all the meetings, the technical stuff and can help a lot in the simulator, things like that. It’s going to be a busy year, a different one for me but, yeah, looking forward [to it].”

Antonelli’s team mate in 2025 will be the aforementioned Russell, who enters into his fourth campaign as a Mercedes driver.

The Briton once experienced a tense moment with Bottas when the pair collided during the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. However, when asked if they can still work well together in light of that clash, Bottas answered with a smile: “We can, we can laugh about our incident in Imola already, so that’s good.”

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 20: Valtteri Bottas of Finland and Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber walks in — Bottas has returned to the Mercedes fold as a reserve driver, having previously raced for the team between 2017 and 2021

While Bottas missed out on a place on the grid this season, the Finn is excited to see what Mercedes can do when it comes to the fight at the front.

“It’s going to be good to watch, I can already tell that!” Bottas said of the upcoming campaign. “Because the gaps are quite small at the top, even between four or five teams, it’s going to be really hard to predict, which is good.

“I think it’s good for the spectators, it’s good for the sport and the first few races will give a direction.

“But like we saw last year, with the small margins, if somebody makes a step that’s a game-changer, so of course I hope that Mercedes can be in the fight for the championship which is everyone’s target over here.”