2 weeks Ago By Thomas Maher
Valtteri Bottas couldn’t resist making a joke at his own expense as he returned to Mercedes for the first time in over three years. Having raced for Mercedes between 2017 and ’21, Bottas has returned to the fold at Toto Wolff’s team as the reserve driver for the F1 2025 campaign. With Bottas heading back to Brackley to join race drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the team’s launch of its new Adidas partnership, the Finn appeared on a video on the team’s social media channels which saw him poking fun at something he’s become quite famous for in recent years – excessively long pitstops.
During the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, while driving for Mercedes , Bottas dived into the pits on Lap 31 for a change of tyres – usually a process that took two seconds or less during that season. But, as the seconds ticked by, it quickly became apparent something had gone wrong as the pitcrew were unable to remove his right-front wheel. The wheel nut had become “machined” onto the axle by the wheel gun, meaning the wheel couldn’t be removed.
👉 F1 2025 driver line-up: Who is confirmed for the 2025 grid? 👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2026 grid? Unable to change tyres, Bottas was forced to retire from the race after sitting for an agonisingly long stop watching his crew attempt to remove the tyre. In fact, that stop became the longest in F1 history as Mercedes was only able to remove the wheel some 43 hours later after receiving the car back at its factory. After moving to Alfa Romeo/Sauber, the Finn endured some nightmare pitstops during 2024 as the Swiss squad encountered multiple issues with both Bottas and teammate Zhou Guanyu.
So prevalent were the problems and their lengthy stops, Sauber’s duo spent 100 seconds in the pits across seven stops in just two races at the start of the year, spending more time in the pits in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz did in the entire 2023 season. Bottas was printing a T-shirt on a printing press to demonstrate how it worked to some guests at Brackley when the Finn clearly couldn’t resist poking fun at how he’s got quite used to waiting around. “And then we want for 30 seconds,” he said, lowering the press onto a white Mercedes T-shirt.
Twiddling his thumbs while waiting, it was almost possible to see Bottas considering whether or not he should say what was on his mind before he took the chance, “It’s still faster than some of my pitstops!” Waiting for his joke to land, Bottas’ smile spread as the guests in the room laughed once they realised what he’d said. With Bottas returning to the team with whom he secured two championship runner-up positions and helped them secure multiple Constructors’ Championships, it’s unsurprising that Bottas has been warmly welcomed back into the fold. Joyful photos and videos, such as Bottas leaping into the air to record an “I’m back” message, saw Mercedes splice in footage of an American TV audience going ballistic with enthusiasm, emerged on the team’s social media feed in the hours after the event in Brackley.
The Bottas who is returning to Mercedes is quite a different character to the one who left after 2021, with the ‘honorary Australian’ growing out a mullet, moustache, and even releasing a nude calendar to show off his ‘Bottass’ to raise money for charity. Wolff revealed that he’ll be expected to rein in some of his more extroverted ways on his return to Mercedes, although will be encouraged to remain authentic to himself. Speaking to media at an awards ceremony last week, Wolff told RN365 , “We are Mercedes, so maybe the nude calendar is not on anymore.
“So we’ve said that, but we need to keep him authentic.” To that end, Mercedes – perhaps a more image-conscious outfit than the Sauber team Bottas just left – won’t have a problem with him keeping his mullet. “If he wants to keep the ugly mullet, then he should,” Wolff smiled.
With the experienced Bottas returning to the fold at Mercedes, a team that holds the Finn in very high regard following years of faithful and solid service, he will be the first port of call should Russell or Antonelli be unable to race at any given weekend. Alongside that, Bottas will be expected to help Antonelli find his feet in Formula 1 as the young Italian makes his debut in the sport. “Part of the role of Valtteri will be to have a look on Kimi,” the 53-year-old explained.
“Be there to coach, be there to have an eye on what’s happening on the track. And Kimi is going to learn from Valtteri and from George.” Read Next: Red Bull closing in on new reserve driver option after title win.
