Draft: a fan’s take. Check the details and make it your own before publishing.
Valtteri Bottas spent five years in the best car on the grid, next to the best driver of his generation. It’s a job that would crush a lot of people. He won ten races doing it, and came out the other side as one of the most liked people in the paddock.
Williams
He’s from Finland, won the GP3 title in 2011 and made his F1 debut with Williams in 2013. With Mercedes engines in 2014, Williams were suddenly quick, and he finished on the podium six times and fourth in the championship.
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The call from Mercedes
When Nico Rosberg won the 2016 title and retired a few days later, Mercedes needed a driver fast. They picked Valtteri. He took his first win in Russia in 2017, and two more that year.
“Valtteri, it’s James”
In Russia in 2018 he was leading, and the team asked him to let Lewis by to protect Lewis’s title lead. The radio message from strategy chief James Vowles, starting “Valtteri, it’s James”, became a meme. He did as he was asked, and it summed up how hard his position was.
Best of the rest
He finished second in the championship in 2019 and 2020, behind Lewis both times. He won four races in 2019, including a strong start at the season opener in Australia.
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His last win came in Turkey in 2021, his final season with Mercedes.
Sauber and beyond
From 2022 to 2024 he raced for Alfa Romeo, which then became Sauber, a much slower team. In 2024 the team didn’t score a single point with him. He spent 2025 back at Mercedes as their reserve driver, and signed to race for the new Cadillac team in 2026.
Off the track
Outside F1, Valtteri seems to be having the time of his life: the mullet, gravel cycling, a lot of time in Australia, and a sense of humour about himself that didn’t really come across in his Mercedes years.
Ten wins, twenty poles and two runner-up finishes is a career most drivers would love to have. He just happened to have it next to Lewis Hamilton.