Valtteri Bottas joins F1 champion Sebastian Vettel on track in Australia for ROC

Former F1 driver and world champion Sebastian Vettel is set to compete in the 2025 Race of Champions in Sydney, Australia, on March 7 and 8. This year, he will be joined by Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.

The duo practiced for the event at Accor Stadium. It brings together all the top drivers from every racing event in the world, including IndyCar, NASCAR, and World Rally Championship, and pits them against each other in the same machinery.

In 2022, Vettel finished runner-up, losing to Sebastien Loeb in Sweden. After a gap in 2024, the ROC returns at the stadium in New South Wales.

Bottas, who parted ways with Sauber following the conclusion of the 2024 season, reunited with Mercedes for a reserve driver role for the 2025 season. While the season is yet to begin, he is using this time to try other forms of racing.

Bottas and Vettel raced and drifted around the track to get their final preparations right before the race starts this week. Apart from the two, Mick Schumacher, David Coulthard, and Heikki Kovalainen are a few names to represent F1 in the 2025 ROC.

Vettel, a four-time F1 world champion, quit the sport in 2022. In his glorious career, he raced for Red Bull, where he won all his championships, before switching to Ferrari and Aston Martin.

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Sebastian Vettel addresses the possibility of F1 return

Sebastian Vettel (Image Source: Getty)

While Sebastian Vettel drew the curtain on his F1 career in 2022, speculations over his potential return resurface every once in a while. When Lewis Hamilton quit Mercedes in 2024, Vettel's name surfaced as a potential replacement option.

In April 2024, Vettel spoke to BBC and opened up on his F1 return plans. He said:

"I'm having thoughts that are crossing my mind and thinking about [a return]. But at this stage, my mindset generally hasn't changed, so it really depends on what's coming up. I'm obviously in contact with a lot of people still. I'm speaking as well to Toto [Wolff] every now and then. It depends I guess, but at the minute it's not the number one priority."

Mercedes' Austrian team principal Toto Wolff chose 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton's successor.