Valtteri Bottas

Lore & Background

Born and raised in Nastola, Bottas began kart racing aged six. After studying automotive engineering and completing mandatory military service, Bottas progressed to junior formulae in 2007. He won his first championship at the Formula Renault NEC in 2008, also winning the Formula Renault Eurocup by three points to Daniel Ricciardo, both with Motopark. He then won the Masters of Formula 3 back-to-back in 2009 and 2010 with ART, before winning the GP3 Series in 2011.

After two years as a test driver, Bottas signed for Williams in to partner Pastor Maldonado, making his Formula One debut at the . In , he finished fourth in the championship, taking his maiden career podium at the . Across four seasons at Williams, Bottas finished on the podium nine times. Bottas signed for Mercedes in , replacing the retiring Nico Rosberg to partner Lewis Hamilton.

He took his maiden pole position in Bahrain and his maiden win in Russia, finishing third in the championship following further victories in Austria and Abu Dhabi. After a winless campaign, Bottas finished runner-up to Hamilton in both the and seasons. He took his final win for Mercedes at the in , leaving at the end of the season after contributing to five consecutive World Constructors' Championships. He joined Alfa Romeo in , retaining his seat for his campaign.

After a non-scoring season at the re-branded Sauber, Bottas returned to Mercedes as a reserve driver. He became a full-time driver again for the 2026 season, driving for Cadillac. Bottas has achieved race wins, pole positions, fastest laps and podiums in Formula One. He is the driver with the second most career points without a World Drivers' Championship ().

Reader's Guide

Bottas was retained by Williams for the season, partnering Felipe Massa who was signed from Ferrari. At the season-opening , Bottas started fifteenth due to a gearbox change penalty and clipped the wall causing a tyre puncture in the race, but recovered to sixth at the finish and was later promoted to fifth after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification. He received another grid penalty and started 18th at the next race, the , for impeding Ricciardo in qualifying, but gained places to finish eighth.

He matched his best grid position at the , starting third, but dropped to eighth at the finish. He praised the team's updates to his FW36 after finishing fifth at the and felt that the team now had the third-fastest car, however this was followed by 13th place in qualifying and an engine failure at the . At the , Bottas qualified second behind teammate Massa, his then-best grid position in Formula One and Williams's first front-row lockout since the 2003 German Grand Prix.

Both drivers were passed by the Mercedes cars during the race, but Bottas held on to third place to achieve his first podium in the sport. Despite starting 14th at the , Bottas made overtakes and benefited from Nico Rosberg's retirement to take another podium finish in second place. He then qualified and finished second at the despite a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton, his third consecutive podium. He was in second place on the opening lap of the , but lost positions due to unfortunate safety car timing and a slow pit stop.

This was followed by another podium at the after passing Kimi Räikkönen for third place in the closing laps. Bottas qualified third at the . Wheelspin dropped him to 11th at the start, but he recovered to fourth place at the finish. Tyre wear dropped him outside the points positions at the , the only time in 2014 he would finish a race outside the top ten.

Another podium came at the where Bottas started and finished third, as well as setting the race's fastest lap. He qualified fourth at the but two slow pit stops relegated him to tenth place. He finished third behind Massa at the season-ending , Williams's first double-podium since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix. The 2014 season ended with Bottas fourth in the World Drivers' Championship, ahead of world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.