Even after leaving Mercedes and joining a far less competitive team in Alfa Romeo, Bottas has been able to deliver consistently every race weekend.
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Think about the past decade in Formula One, the first and foremost thing that will come to anybody’s mind will be Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes-AMG-Petronas F1 team. And rightfully so. During his time at the Silver Arrows, Hamilton won six world championships and the team won eight consecutive constructor’s championships. However, many seem to forget that Finnish driver Valterri Bottas was as important a bedrock to the team’s success as anyone. In his five seasons at Mercedes, Bottas came into his own as a Formula One driver and perhaps even became one the greatest team players the sport has ever seen. Even after leaving Mercedes and joining a far less competitive team in Alfa Romeo, Bottas has been able to deliver consistently every race weekend. He dons the number 77. It might be an unpopular opinion, but Valterri Bottas might very well be one of the best drivers of the turbo-hybrid era.
Bottas was born on August 28, 1989, in Nastola, Finland, to Rauno Bottas and Marianne Valimaa. His father runs a small cleaning business, and his mother works as a funeral director. He received his education in Heinola. Bottas briefly served in the army, which is required of all adult males in Finland. His passion for motorsport began at the age of six, when he attended a karting event promoted in his local supermarket while shopping with his grandfather. His childhood racing hero was compatriot Mika Hakkinen. Bottas raced for the P.D.B. Racing Team in the 2005 Karting World Cup, utilising a Gillard chassis and Parilla engines. Both the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup were won by Bottas in 2008. He did it by repeating Filipe Albuquerque’s accomplishment of winning both the NEC and the Eurocup in the same season in 2006.
For the 2009 season, he moved up to the Formula Three Euroseries, where he raced for reigning champions ART Grand Prix. Bottas finished third in the championship despite not winning a race, beating off future BMW I Andretti Motorsport driver Alexander Sims in the last race. Bottas won the 2009 Formula 3 Masters in June 2009, gaining pole position and setting the best lap of the race. He made history by being the first driver to win the F3 Masters title for the second time in 2010.
Bottas was assigned as a test driver for the Williams Formula One team in 2010 and remained as such for the 2011 and 2012 seasons (during which he participated in 15 Friday Free Practice sessions). Ge returned to racing in 2013, after being announced as Pastor Maldonado’s teammate at Williams-Renault for the 2013 season on November 28, 2012. The Finn qualified third for the Canadian Grand Prix on June 8, 2013, behind Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton (2nd). He finished eighth in the United States Grand Prix, earning his first points.
Bottas remained at Williams till 2016 and his best performance with the team came in 2014 when he finished fourth in the driver’s championship with 186 points. In 2015 and 2016, Bottas finished 5th and 8th respectively. The Finn then got a call from Toto Wolff who had a Mercedes contract ready for him, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In his five years at Mercedes, Bottas finished second in the driver’s championship twice. His worst performance with the Silver Arrows on paper was in 2018 when he finished in fifth place. When it comes to points, he scored the most of his career in a season in 2019 with 326 points. It is no secret that Lewis Hamilton owes a lot of his success to his teammate who would usually do anything and everything the team needed him to. Without his calm and composed race craft, and his ability to do anything for the team, Mercedes probably would never have won eight straight constructor’s titles. Bottas received a hero’s send off after his final season at the Silver Arrows and rightfully so. After years of service to Toto Wolff, the Finn has now joined Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) from the start of the 2022 season.
| Races | 183 |
| Wins | 10 |
| Poles | 20 |
| Podiums | 67 |
| Points | 1762 |
| World Championships | 0 |
Valtteri Bottas is dating an Australian road cyclist right now. Her current job requires her to participate for the Canyon-SRAM squad in Germany. She competes in a variety of bicycle sports. Tiffany Jane Cromwell, 32, is an Australian actress who was born on July 6, 1988. The athlete has been incredibly active and dedicated to her profession. She has risen through the ranks to become one of the best female riders in the world. She wishes to compete in the Olympic cycling competition.
The Finn is said to be worth $30 million, with a salary of roughly $12 million for the 2018 season. His compensation for the 2020 season is expected to be approximately $8 million, according to many estimates. Bottas was the seventh highest-paid driver on the grid in 2021, falling between Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo. The Finn’s on-track compensation at Alfa Romeo is expected to be over USD 11 million in 2022.
