Bottas to wheel Mercedes’ W13 in South Korea as F1’s Korean connection flickers back to life
Valtteri Bottas will slip back into Mercedes colours next month for a one-off blast in South Korea, taking the team’s 2022 W13 out for a demo run at Yongin-si’s AMG Speedway on 12 October. It’s part of the Peaches Run Universe 2025 event, a car-culture showcase that’s pulling F1 machinery back into the country for the first time since the Korean Grand Prix quietly left the calendar after 2013.
For Bottas, who’s agreed to join the incoming Cadillac programme for 2026, it could also be a neat closing loop with Mercedes before the next chapter begins.
Peaches, the outfit behind the event, is pitching a show rather than a sales job. But there’s no escaping the symbolism. The last time F1 touched down in Korea, it was a complicated sell: a brand-new venue at Yeongam, a fanbase still feeling out the sport, and a calendar slot that never really bit. Fernando Alonso won that rain-hit 2010 debut after Mark Webber’s mistake and Sebastian Vettel’s engine let go; by 2013, the whole project had already lost momentum.
Now? The sport’s bigger, louder, and far more plugged-in than it was a decade ago. Dropping a Mercedes at speed into a Korean motorsport amphitheatre is a statement that lands — even if it’s a show run rather than a restart of the Grand Prix.
“I was fortunate enough to be in my debut season the last time F1 raced in South Korea back in 2013,” Bottas said. “The passion of the fans for our sport was clear and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. To be able to bring F1 back to the country is brilliant; the team and I are determined to put on a great show for everyone who will be at the AMG Speedway next month for Peaches Run Universe 2025.”
The choice of car is a wink to recent history. Mercedes’ W13 marked the start of the current ground-effect era in 2022, a car that was fast enough to win but also fussy enough to teach the team a few hard lessons. In demo trim, though, it’ll do exactly what it needs to: make noise, lay rubber, and remind a lot of onlookers what a modern F1 car looks and sounds like at full chat.
The AMG Speedway in Yongin-si isn’t the old Grand Prix venue, which sat on the country’s southwest coast. That’s fine. This is about proximity as much as spectacle — a closer, more accessible touchpoint for a population that consumes global sport differently than it did in 2010.
There’s also the Bottas factor. His Mercedes history gives the occasion a bit of emotional heft, while his future makes it interesting. The Finn has committed to Cadillac’s planned 2026 entry alongside Sergio Pérez, a pairing that brings 16 grand prix victories between them — 10 for Bottas, six for Pérez — and a truckload of experience. If this does turn out to be Bottas’ final run in Mercedes kit, it’s a tidy way to bookend a long association.
As for the bigger picture: chatter about a Korean Grand Prix comeback has bubbled for years. That’s not what this is. But manufacturers don’t drop stars and kit into new markets by accident. If the grandstands fill and the phones light up, it won’t go unnoticed in the places where calendars are quietly shaped.
For now, pencil in 12 October. Bottas, a Mercedes, and a Korean crowd that hasn’t heard that particular sound in too long. Not a Grand Prix, no. But the kind of teaser that tends to get people talking.
