Valtteri Bottas could become a personal adviser to Toto Wolff as part of his return to Mercedes as the team’s reserve driver for the F1 2025 season.

That is the claim of former F1 driver Christian Fittipaldi, who says the outgoing Audi F1 star is being considered to take a wider role within the Mercedes team.

Valtteri Bottas to become Toto Wolff adviser in likely Mercedes return?

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Bottas is almost certain to be left without a seat for the F1 2025 season 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 team-mate to seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

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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 next year.

Mercedes will field one of the youngest driver lineups on the grid in F1 2025, with 18-year-old sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli stepping up to partner George Russell following Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari.

According to Swiss-German publication Blick, Fittipaldi claimed on a recent podcast in Brazil that Bottas’s return to Mercedes could extend beyond reserve driver duties – with the 35-year-old potentially working as an adviser to team boss Wolff.

Bottas is known to have a close relationship with Wolff, who rejoined the Finnish driver’s management setup following Bottas’s departure from Mercedes.

Fittipaldi said: “We hear from close friends that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is even bringing his former winning driver on board as his personal adviser.”

Wolff’s entourage at Mercedes lost a 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, adopting some of Wolff’s responsibilities after the team boss underwent knee surgery last autumn.

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.”

Bottas’s current team-mate Zhou Gunayu has also been linked with a move to a reserve role with Ferrari for F1 2025 as the Chinese driver aims to secure a place in the paddock.

Zhou confirmed in Las Vegas that he is in talks with Ferrari, with other options also on the table.

He told media including PlanetF1.com: “Everybody [would] love to be driving in red, especially for the race seat.

“For the reserve [role], they show some interest so we are discussing it.

“There’s other options as well, so there’s no one team or the other I would prefer to join. I just want to making sure I’m in a team that have a good or competitive car that I can continue to learn and continue to learn for myself, from a driver’s and team perspective.

“And also [a team] trying to get me out there, doing some testing and taking the reserve role to work on the development as well.”

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