Toto Wolff has revealed that it is “a matter of time” before Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes amid rumours that he could become the team’s reserve driver for F1 2025.

It comes as the team prepare to lose a huge amount of experience with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton‘s move to Ferrari for next season.

Toto Wolff confirms Mercedes closing in on Valtteri Bottas reunion for F1 2025

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Bottas is almost certain to be left without a seat for F1 2025 after Audi F1, who will take over the existing Sauber team in 2026, announced earlier this month that Gabriel Bortoleto will become Nico Hulkenberg’s team-mate for next year.

With the Red Bull VCARB outfit the only team yet to officially finalise their driver lineup for F1 2025, Bottas is set to bow out at next month’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having been a fixture on the grid since his debut with Williams back in 2013.

Bottas enjoyed the most productive years of his career with Mercedes between 2017 and 2021, claiming a total of 10 grand prix victories and helping the team to five consecutive Constructors’ titles as Hamilton’s team-mate.

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last month’s Mexican GP, before his Audi F1 exit was confirmed, Bottas revealed that he “would consider” a return to Mercedes as the team’s reserve driver for the F1 2025 campaign.

Mercedes will field one of the youngest driver lineups on the grid next year, with 18-year-old sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli stepping up from F2 to partner George Russell having been confirmed as Hamilton’s successor at Monza.

Wolff has revealed that a deal to re-sign Bottas is yet to be finalised, but is nearing completion with the team “full of joy” to have a driver of his calibre in their ranks.

He told Viaplay: “Nothing is signed, nothing is done.

“But if we were to have him back in the family, we would be all full of joy.

“What you can say is that if you have the opportunity to have a driver like Valtteri back in the Mercedes family, with his ability, with his most recent experience of these modern cars, you can deem yourself super lucky.”

Asked if he is looking forward to welcoming Bottas back to Mercedes, he replied: “Very much.

“You know [how] negotiations [unfold] at the end, lawyers always want to make contracts fail! I’m joking, they are great lawyers and it’s a matter of time.”

Rumours this week have suggested that Bottas could even act as a “personal adviser” to Wolff, with the pair known to have a close relationship over many years.

Wolff played an instrumental role in Bottas’s emergence at Williams before signing him the Finnish driver as Nico Rosberg’s replacement at the start of 2017.

Bottas confirmed last year that Wolff had rejoined his management team following his departure from Mercedes at the end of 2021.

Wolff’s personal entourage at Mercedes lost a key member earlier this year when Jerome d’Ambrosio, the former Marussia and Lotus-Renault driver, left to take up the role of deputy team principal at Ferrari, as well as becoming the head of the Scuderia’s junior academy.

D’Ambrosio began working with Mercedes on an informal basis in F1 2023 before being appointed to the position of driver development director, assuming some of Wolff’s responsibilities for a select number of races last autumn after the team boss underwent knee surgery.

Bottas issued an update on his future ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, insisting that he still has “lots” to offer in F1 and revealing that he has some “interesting” options for next year.

He told media including PlanetF1.com: “The way my active F1 driving career ended for now, it wasn’t the best way that you can’t really decide yourself.

“I feel like still I have lots to give for the sport and I still love it. I love the racing against the best drivers in the world, in the best cars in the world.

“That’s what I love, so I’m just trying to figure out now what is the next move.

“I don’t really have that much more [to add]. I’m taking it day by day. There’s some interesting stuff on the table and then we’ll see.”

With Audi F1’s decision to sign Bortoleto coming so late in the year, Bottas has ruled out a move to IndyCar or the World Endurance Championship for next season, confirming that his priority is to regain a grand prix seat for F1 2026.

He added: “For me, at the moment, I feel like jumping into a new category comes quite quick.

“We’re almost in December, so I think that would be more realistic if I didn’t find a seat in F1 during ‘25 or for ‘26, then probably [it] would be [a consideration] from ‘26.

“It’s all these things that I need to try and plan, but the picture is starting to form in my head what is the ideal situation.”

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