While Red Bull have dropped a bombshell by swapping Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, there is another driver news that has piqued a lot of interest around Valtteri Bottas, who left Sauber last year and is out of a race seat. Bottas is testing for McLaren, which has fans asking whether the Finn is shifting base to Woking.
After Sauber dropped him for 2025, Bottas found refuge with his old team, Mercedes, as Toto Wolff welcomed the 10-time Grand Prix winner as a reserve driver for the Silver Arrows.
Since the start of the 2025 season, Bottas has been working actively in the Mercedes garage as their test and reserve driver. So, how does McLaren factor into this equation and has got a hold of Bottas to test their cars.
Firstly, the Finn is testing a car for the Woking-based team under the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) program in Barcelona. But that doesn’t mean Bottas will get a full-time race seat at McLaren in the near future.
Being a part of Mercedes, Bottas can be the reserve driver for any of their customer teams—McLaren, Williams, and Aston Martin. Since Aston Martin have Felipe Drugovich as their reserve, it is unlikely that they will call upon the 35-year-old if any of their racers are unable to compete.
Valtteri Bottas will take part in a TPC test with McLaren today in Barcelona.
Bottas will also take on the role of reserve driver at McLaren.
[Adam Cooper] pic.twitter.com/v5PBvbDJ2X
— Racing News (@_racingnews) March 27, 2025
However, with McLaren’s reserve driver Pato O’Ward busy with IndyCar duties, the Woking-based outfit can certainly require his services. This is perhaps the reason why the team wanted Bottas to get a run in the MCL60—the 2023 car—to familiarize himself with McLaren’s cars.
Bottas’ test with McLaren is likely to be beneficial for both parties. On one hand, it will ensure that he is ready to race for McLaren if the need arises this season. As for Bottas, getting to compete in a race for any team is likely to be the best way he can prove himself if he wants to secure a race seat for 2026.
McLaren will hope to use Bottas’ data to evaluate their drivers
The role of a reserve driver is not just to be ready to jump into the car for an outfit if any of their racers are unable to compete but also to help their teams improve their cars, among other things. While Bottas may not be involved on a daily basis with McLaren because his primary responsibility is to work with Mercedes, the Woking-based outfit can still use his data to evaluate their current drivers.
Moreover, having Bottas as a reserve driver will also help McLaren ensure that they have a reliable driver to sign in case one of their racers chooses to leave the team for any reason. McLaren will know a whole lot about this, as this is how they poached Oscar Piastri from Alpine.
The Australian started the 2022 season as a reserve driver for the French outfit. However, midway into the campaign, McLaren negotiated to offer Piastri a full-time race seat for 2023. It was a shrewd deal that eventually helped the Woking-based outfit snatch Piastri from Alpine despite a long contractual dispute.
While McLaren will hope that the need does not arise for such a situation, as they arguably have one of the strongest driver lineups on the grid, signing Bottas as a reserve will definitely provide them with such an option.
