"Adopted Aussie" driver Valtteri Bottas will drive alongside Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher in ROC reunion
Sauber F1 driver Valtteri Bottas's place in the Race Of Champions 2025 was recently confirmed. The event will take place in Sydney, Australia, and will also feature other former F1 drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.
With the 2024 F1 season nearing its end, Sauber announced that Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will leave the team after the season. This means that the Swiss-based team will go with a fresh driver lineup a year before Audi officially enters F1 with it.
Recently, Race Of Champions organizers announced that the Finnish driver will race in the 2025 edition. In an official statement on the ROC website, Valtteri Bottas has been nicknamed an "Adopted Aussie" and the statement goes on to list some of the ways in which he is connected to the country, including being in a relationship with Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell and doing promotional activities that included sporting a "mullet" and drinking "VB" beer.
Since Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher are already on the German team's roster, it will be a great reunion for the F1 drivers in next year's ROC.
Speaking about his return to ROC, Bottas shared his excitement about racing in front of his Australian fans. He said,
“My close relationship with Australia is no secret and I am really looking forward to competing in the first ever Race Of Champions Down Under. Hopefully I will also have plenty of ‘local’ fans cheering for me after being granted ‘honorary Australian’ status earlier this year, even if I will of course try to beat Australia in the ROC Nations Cup and all the Aussies in the individual Race Of Champions.”
This will be Bottas' second appearance in the Race Of Champions. His debut event was in 2023 when he raced alongside fellow Finnish driver and two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen.
ROC President showered praises on Valtteri Bottas as he welcomes him for 2025 edition
ROC President and Co-Founder, Fredrik Johnsson, announced Valtteri Bottas's participation in next year's event in Sydney.
In the official statement, Johnsson said the Finnish driver will bring great excitement to Australia because of his relationship with Aussies. He also recalled the last time Bottas raced in ROC in 2023. He said,
“Valtteri is one of the great characters of our sport and is a perfect inclusion for our first-ever Race Of Champions in Australia. Just like last year at ROC Sweden, he will bring lots of fun as well as some seriously-fast, competitive driving.
“We were all disappointed when Valtteri was recently left without an F1 drive next year, but we are very happy that his Australian fans will still be able to see him in action at ROC Sydney the weekend before the F1 season starts in Melbourne.”
Valtteri Bottas has not scored any points thus far in the 2024 F1 season. Sauber has also not scored a point in the season and is last in the constructors' championship.