Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas will face each other again next year, but not in Formula 1. Instead, it will be in the Race of Champions in New Zealand. The organization has secured the four-time world champion and the current Cadillac driver for the 2027 edition.
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The Race of Champions, a spectacular motorsport event, will take place for the first time in New Zealand. It will be held on January 9 and 10, 2027, at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington. A temporary circuit will be set up there where drivers from different disciplines compete directly against each other in identical cars. This means the equipment plays hardly any role and it mainly comes down to the skills of the drivers.
Besides Vettel and Bottas, rally driver Hayden Paddon and Supercars champion Chaz Mostert have also been confirmed. The organization is expected to announce more (big) names soon.
Vettel is a welcome guest
For Vettel, it will be his twelfth participation in the Race of Champions. The German won the individual competition in 2015 and was successful seven times with Germany in the Nations Cup. Bottas is still waiting for his first overall victory. Vettel and Bottas obviously know each other well from their Formula 1 days, during which they competed directly several times for wins and podiums.
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Vettel is already looking forward to his new visit to New Zealand. The German was impressed by the country during a previous trip and jokingly told the organization that the Race of Champions should be held there sometime. Now it is happening.
“I am curious about the complete field of participants,” said Vettel in a statement. “It is fun anyway to compete in January against so many other champions from all over the world.”
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