Appreciated by the team and his teammate, often criticized by the public, too often judged unsuitable for the car he drives but just as admired for his spirit of sacrifice. It was not an easy adventure in Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. Starting from 2017, the Finnish driver found himself behind the wheel of the best single-seater on the grid, but also ‘crushed’ by an enormously bulky teammate and team logic which, combined with his discontinuity in race performance, relegated him to the perennial role of second pilot. Now that the adventure with the black-silver jumpsuit is about to end, the native Nastola wanted to take a few pebbles off his shoes.
During this season’s long drivers market the former Williams has decided to marry in Alfa Romeo. A choice shared in some way with Mercedes: the Brackley team understood that the time was now ripe for the promotion of the young talent George Russell; Bottas for his part felt the need for a finally long-term project. Yes, because the driver with the most poles in F1 history who has never won a World Championship has never been able to count on a multi-year contract in the Circus. A situation, which by his own admission, ended up wearing him down.
“You obviously try to convince yourself that this is not affecting you – explained # 77 to the F1 podcast Beyond the Grid – you try to block out any negative thoughts, but when there are a lot of rumors – which can happen in Formula 1 – for sure, it doesn’t help. There is a distraction, even if you try to minimize it. I think there have been a few times where I have not been in an easy situation with contracts, chatter and all the background noise. Toto [Wolff] think pressure is good for me. I agree, the pressure for a certain period of time is good, it makes you achieve more. But if you have contractual pressure for nine years, season after season, start eating yourself from the inside “ Bottas concluded.
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