Valtteri Bottas ducks battle with Sebastian Vettel at Race of Champions

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Sebastian Vettel had been due to go head-to-head with Valtteri Bottas in a rather different setting of the snow-surrounded Race of Champions in Sweden this weekend - but a late change of heart means the intriguing battle is off.

Bottas, who left Mercedes to join Alfa Romeo ahead of the 2022 season, withdrew on Friday due to “other commitments” - just two days before the battle was set to take place.

Instead, Aston Martin driver Vettel will now be up against Finnish racer Emma Kimilainen, who drives for Ecurie W and came third last year in the W Series.

The Race of Champions pits drivers from different disciplines against each other in a knock-out format, each in their own lane around a circuit and this year taking place on ice - just 60 miles outside the Arctic Circle.

Mick Schumacher is the third Formula One driver set to take part, up against 23-year-old Brit Jamie Chadwick in a preliminary race for a place in the last 16.

Chadwick is the current W Series champion, adding last year’s title to the one she won in 2019. While not expecting to return to W Series in 2022, she was also in place as a development driver for Williams Racing in F1 last year and has now acquired the requisite number of Super Licence points to take part in free practice.

Vettel, meanwhile, will be looking to improve on a 12th-place finish in the F1 standings last year, which included a single podium finish in Azerbaijan.

Bottas recently spoke about being Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate at Mercedes and what he took from the experience - but he was also criticised by Red Bull chief Helmut Marko for being a “loser” at overtaking.