Pictures: Bottas Demonstrates Mercedes F1 Car At South Korea's Everland Speedway

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Everland Speedway, 2025

Mercedes has participated in the first event in South Korea involving an official Formula 1 team since the country’s short-lived grand prix.

Reserve driver Valtteri Bottas demonstrated a W13 chassis, of the type raced by the team in 2022. The event took place yesterday at the Everland Speedway, around 30 kilometres south-east of the capital Seoul.

Around 25,000 fans attended the Peaches Run Universe 2025 event, during which Bottas performed multiple laps of the 17-turn, 4.5-kilometre course which includes a crossover. Everland Speedway opened in 1995 and has been branded by Mercedes’ performance division AMG since 2018.

“I remember the passion of the fans from when I raced here back in 2013,” said Bottas, “but if anything that fandom has grown since then. The fans were knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and it was such an honour to have so many people here to enjoy the day.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently said F1 should return to the Asian country, which has a population of around 51 million. “South Korea is an extremely social-media-connected country and so it would be great if we could come back and show how Formula 1 has changed over the last 10 years,” he said.

However the country’s previous event, which was officially titled the Korean Grand Prix, was not a success.

South Korea held four poorly-attended races between 2010 and 2013 at the purpose-built Korea International Circuit outside Mokpo in the south of the country. Mercedes never won the race: Fernando Alonso triumphed in the inaugural event and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the other three races.

The Everland Speedway shares its name with the nearby Everland Resort theme park, both of which are owned by South Korean electronics giant Samsung. The track does not have the necessary FIA Grade One licence to be eligible to hold grands prix.

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