Born: 28/08/1989 Nastola, Finland
The latest in a long line of Finns to have tasted the winners’ champagne in motorsport’s highest echelons, Valtteri Bottas is in his second season with Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake for the 2023 F1 World Championship.
A soaring rise through the junior ranks labelled him as a future star, Bottas accumulating Formula Renault titles in both the UK and in Europe, before landing third overall in the competitive Formula 3 Euroseries in his rookie campaign. It was his title-winning success in the GP3 Series that would go on to catch the attention of Williams bosses, who subsequently hired Bottas to its development programme.
Promoted to the role of test and reserve driver for the 2011 and 2012 F1 seasons, Bottas became a regular figure on race weekends with several Friday Free Practice outings, convincing Williams to award him a full race seat for the 2013 F1 season.
2022 - Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN
10th - 49 points
With George Russell arriving at Mercedes, Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo and quickly reminded the F1 paddock of his quality by lifting the Swiss-based team back into the upper half of the field.
With Sauber grasping the fresh technical regulations quicker than its mid-field rivals, Bottas found himself punching well above Alfa Romeo’s somewhat lacklustre form in recent seasons. Hitting the ground running with a fine sixth place finish in the Bahrain opener, Bottas enjoyed a string of strong results in the first half of the year, reaching the top ten in seven of the opening nine races.
Though his form dipped as Alfa Romeo’s rivals picked up in the development race, Bottas still ended the campaign inside the overall top ten.
2021 - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
3rd - 226 points
Despite the looming threat posed by Russell, Bottas held onto his seat with Mercedes for the 2021 F1 season.
Somewhat overshadowed by the mammoth fight for supremacy between team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen up ahead, Bottas nonetheless played a dutiful support role, notching up 11 podiums, including a victory in Turkey.
However, as expected, Mercedes picked Russell over Bottas for the 2022 F1 season, paving the way for him to make the switch to Alfa Romeo.
2020 - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
2nd - 223 points
Shaking off the COVID-19 initiated delayed start to the 2020 F1 season by clinching a stylish win in the Austrian opener in Mercedes’ handsome all-black W11, Bottas again found himself playing second fiddle to Hamilton.
Nevertheless, Bottas held his nerve against an increasingly staunch challenge from the competition, particularly Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, peaking with a ninth career F1 win in Sochi amid 11 podiums.
However, Bottas’ future in the team came under scrutiny when he was pitched into a direct head-to-head with Russell, the Mercedes protege promoted into a COVID-stricken Hamilton’s race seat for the Sakhir Grand Prix. While he spared blushes by edging Russell out for pole position, it was the Briton that commanded the advantage on race day until tactical blunders by Mercedes scuppered podium hopes for both drivers.
2019 - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
2nd - 326 points
Getting his hands on the devastatingly dominant Mercedes W10 for the new season, Bottas put a troubled 2018 campaign behind him by winning the opening round in Australia.
Jokingly referring to himself as ‘Bottas 2.0’, the Finn rallied as a title rival to Hamilton during the initial stages of the season, his bid aided by a second win of the year in Baku.
With Hamilton getting his head down en route to his sixth F1 title, though Bottas’ title aspirations faded as the season progressed, two more wins – in Japan and the USA – still contributed to his best F1 season to date as the runner-up in a Mercedes 1-2.
2018 - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
5th – 247 points
Now armed with a season of knowledge at Mercedes, a better prepared Bottas came into the 2018 F1 season with his sights set firmly on prising the crown out of team-mate Hamilton’s grasp.
Hamilton – now in sight of breaking many of F1’s most prestigious records – stepped up his game, leaving Bottas to settle into a supporting role. Despite failing to top the podium all year, Bottas reached the podium on eight occasions, contributing towards a fifth constructors’ title for Mercedes.
2017 - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
3rd - 305 points
After originally penning a new deal to remain with Williams for a fifth campaign, a surprise call-up from Mercedes in the wake of champion Nico Rosberg’s retirement enabled Bottas to land a coveted seat alongside Hamilton.
With a trio of dominantly-achieved F1 titles under its belt already, Mercedes was once again the team to beat in 2017 with Bottas quickly taking full advantage to mark his debut with a podium in Bahrain. He’d take just three more races to clinch his maiden F1 win, Bottas out-performing Hamilton from start-to-finish to secure victory in the Russian Grand Prix.
Though unable to assume the mantle from Rosberg by vying with Hamilton for inter-team supremacy, Bottas validated Mercedes’ faith with two more wins in Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi.
2016 - Williams Martini Racing
8th - 85 points
A final season with Williams again saw Bottas get the better of team-mate Massa, though once more the British team’s elevated status among the lead pack faced a greater challenge.
Despite this, Bottas continued to thrive as a consistent hand in the Williams FW38, claiming points finishes in 15 of the 21 grands prix en route to eighth overall.
2015 - Williams Martini Racing
5th - 136 points
While Williams’ Mercedes-dictated power unit advantage eroded come the 2015 F1 season, Bottas continued to hold firm among a more competitive top half of the grid.
While trips to the podium were limited to just two occasions, Bottas ticked the points over with 12 top six results. Engaging in a fierce Finnish fight with countryman Kimi Raikkonen to crack the top five overall, Bottas was cruelly denied by the man himself when a collision punted the Williams man out of a podium finish in Russia late on.
2014 - Williams Martini Racing
4th - 186 points
The start of the V6 hybrid turbo era saw Bottas lead Williams, having made the savvy switch to superior Mercedes power over the winter, back towards the sharp end of the field once more in 2014.
Allowing Bottas to firmly establish himself among F1’s elite in his sophomore campaign, the Finn landed his maiden podium finish in Austria, the first of six he’d go on to complete the season with.
Consistently out-performing experienced new team-mate Felipe Massa, Bottas vied for ‘best of the rest’ beyond the ultra-dominant Mercedes drivers, peaking with back-to-back second place finishes at Silverstone and Hockenheim en route to fourth overall.
2013 - Williams F1 Team
17th - 4 points
Replacing Bruno Senna in the Williams line-up, despite Bottas grappling with the uncompetitive Renault-powered Williams FW35 in his maiden campaign, he nevertheless had the measure of more seasoned team-mate Pastor Maldonado.
While points were hard to come by for both Williams drivers amid a slump in competitiveness for the storied British team, Bottas showed flashes of promise by securing third on the grid in a wet qualifying session in Canada, before finally hitting the scoreboard in the United States with a giant-killing run to eighth.
