Pikkarainen, a Vantaa native, competed in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Olympics. Her time of 1:02.31 placed her 46th overall.
Follow Us
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.
On September 11, 2016, Valtteri Bottas wed Emilia Pikkarainen, an Olympic swimmer from Finland, after dating her for six years as per GH Gossip. The ceremony took place at St. John’s Church in Helsinki. On November 28, 2019, the couple did, however, announce their separation and divorce, with Bottas citing his career and lifestyle as contributing factors. Since February 2020, Bottas has been dating Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
Pikkarainen, a Vantaa native, competed in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Olympics. Her time of 1:02.31 placed her 46th overall. She participated in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She competed in the 4 x 100-meter medley relay for Finland during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
