Valtteri Bottas has confirmed he will be attending every race in the F1 2025 season in his capacity as third driver for Mercedes.

Bottas returned to the team as reserve after leaving Sauber at the end of 2024, but has been open in his ambitions of returning to the grid in 2026 if possible.

Valtteri Bottas reveals he will be ‘at every race’ in Mercedes third driver role

Some teams on the grid opt to have a pool of multiple reserve drivers which may rotate through the season, such as Ferrari, who are set call upon Antonio Giovinazzi and Bottas’ now-former Sauber team-mate Zhou Guanyu in 2025, and Alpine have confirmed three reserves for the upcoming season in Franco Colapinto, Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa.

Bottas revealed he will be attending every round of the 2025 season in his role, however, and will be offering as much support as he can to George Russell and Kimi Antonelli through his work elsewhere, while hoping to conduct his own testing to stay race sharp.

Writing in an open letter on Mercedes’ website, Bottas confirmed the exact scope of his new role – and revealed his previous seat with the team still fits from his previous spell.

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“As the third driver, I’ll be at every race, involved with everything to do with performance on and off track,” he said.

“Whether its set-up or driving, I’ll be trying to use my experience to contribute to this great team.

“I’ll be getting stuck into data, looking at George and Kimi’s onboards, providing that extra pair of eyes. Hopefully, I can keep driving and do some testing too.

“At the factory, I’ll be in the simulator lots, doing development work for the W16. I’ve been getting up to speed with everything so far, learning about the new car and the plans for it this season.

“I spent Valentine’s Day doing a seat fit. It was love at second sight! Turns out, my old seat from 2021 still fits just fine.

“There will be some marketing and partner days too, and TikToks of course – I think we’ll have some fun moments on social media this year, so keep your eyes peeled!”

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