Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed that he will be calling upon Valtteri Bottas to “coach” Andrea Kimi Antonelli through his rookie season with the team in Formula 1.
Bottas has returned to Mercedes to serve in a reserve driver role across the upcoming campaign amid Sauber’s decision not to retain him in the team’s line-up past 2024.
The Finn, who is angling to secure a return to the grid next season, has reunited with the squad that he won 10 races with across a five-season spell between 2017 and 2021.
Bottas will add much-needed experience to the Mercedes setup as it embarks on a new era without Lewis Hamilton, who cut his ties with the team to make the switch to Ferrari.
Mercedes elected to promote Antonelli to the seat that Hamilton vacated alongside George Russell as the German marque turns attention to the regulation overhaul in 2026.
With Mercedes choosing to overlook more established names to partner Russell, Wolff has admitted there will be an emphasis on Bottas to help Antonelli in his debut season.
“Part of the role of Valtteri will be to have a look at Kimi,” Wolff told RacingNews365. “Be there to coach, be there to have an eye on what’s happening on the track.
“Kimi is going to learn from Valtteri and from George.”
Antonelli eager to learn from experienced counterparts
Antonelli has expressed his eagerness to draw upon the experience of both Bottas and team-mate Russell, entering his seventh season in F1, to ease his transition.
“He’s been a good team-mate,” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1 at a Mercedes event with new partner Adidas regarding his relationship with Russell.
“So far he’s been helping me; we’ve been chatting quite a bit also about the car and also race weekends. So he’s been giving me some feedback and some advice.
“Also with Valtteri, I was able to meet him for the first time and start to build a relationship.
“I’m also looking forward to working with Valtteri beside George, also because Valtteri is a really experienced driver.
“He’s been with Mercedes for so many years and for sure he can help me out as well during race weekends.”
Antonelli prepared for ‘brutal’ F1
Antonelli has acknowledged the sport can be a “brutal” environment when things go wrong, as he experienced when he crashed two laps into his maiden FP1 run at Monza.
However, the Italian has claimed that he has an appropriate support network around him to ensure that he can overcome the inevitable bumps that will occur this season.
“It is not going to be easy, because it is my first year in F1 and at the end of the day, I’m racing against the best 19 drivers in the world,” Antonelli added.
“The world of motorsport, and Formula 1 especially, can be very brutal at times, but the thing is, I am just going to try and stay focused on myself, trying to work day-to-day, weekend-by-weekend and trying to improve.
“Of course the mindset is going to be to try and win, but I have good people around me in this moment and they will really help me ignore the external things in order to be focused on the moment.
“I feel like I am just a new Mercedes driver and I’m saying that replacing Lewis Hamilton, I don’t think it is correct as he’s such a big figure and done so much that I feel like I am just the next Mercedes driver.
“I really want to make my way, achieve great results and be successful.”
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