Valtteri Bottas will return to Mercedes as its reserve driver for next year, the Formula 1 team said Thursday.

Bottas won 10 races over five seasons at Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton's teammate from 2017-21. He did not score a point this season with Sauber and the team replaced him and Zhou Guanyu with a new lineup of the experienced Nico Hulkenberg and Brazilian newcomer Gabriel Bortoleto, ahead of rebranding as the Audi works team in 2026.