Valtteri Bottas on F1 swansong: ‘This year has been the toughest of rides’

Not for the first time, Valtteri Bottas is playing it cool. Frankly, when has Valtteri Bottas not played it cool? A new and improved figure of exuberance away from the racetrack – more on that later – the 35-year-old racer is on the verge of his final furlong this weekend. And while he is not bowing out strictly on his own terms, he has the aura of a person departing the sport he cherishes – the only pastime he’s ever known – without any sense of bitterness or resentment.

In the “piranha club” whirlpool of the Formula One paddock, that in itself is admirable. Yet he opts not to delve too deeply into the psychoanalysis of himself. Instead, his new life outlook is refreshingly simple.

“I’ve just been able to take the piss out of myself,” he tells The Independent, in the Stake F1 Team (Sauber) hospitality unit.

As Lewis Hamilton’s 12-year stint at Mercedes concludes this weekend spare a thought for Bottas – Hamilton’s favourite ever teammate – at the other end of the pit lane. A teammate who aided Hamilton’s glory years with examples of self-sacrifice rarely seen in F1. A teammate who, with five constructors’ titles to his name, has his own pride of place in Toto Wolff’s hybrid-era juggernaut. 

So much so, in fact, that Bottas is set to be welcomed back with open arms as a Mercedes reserve driver next year. He’ll still be a presence in the paddock.

But come the end of 58 laps at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, Bottas will wave goodbye – at least for the time being – to a regular spot on the most-prized grid in world motorsport after a dozen trips around the sun. Dropped by Sauber for 2025, Bottas will start potentially his final grand prix in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

A quiet, unassuming competitor for most of his 12 years in the sport, the Finn has opened up in ways unforeseen in the past 18 months or so. What’s been on the agenda? Well, how about indoor triathlons? And self-deprecating merchandise for charity. And nude calendars.

Nowadays, he even sports a Mansell-esque moustache.

The transformation in Bottas’ facade has been tremendously uplifting and, in a sport with its fair share of controversies in 2024, provided a source of much-needed laughter. Why now, though, amid the toughest years of his career on track?

“I think I’ve just got the experience and the change of atmosphere in my life now… everything has combined,” he says. “It’s just about being who I really am.

“It’s also about being more relaxed and willing to share what I do. It’s just an easier way of living, instead of following certain guidelines.

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“I think a lot of it is age and experience. Earlier in my career, it was 24/7 F1. It was super serious. But then you actually start to understand that some things in life shouldn’t be that serious.”

And if there’s one trait you cannot accuse Bottas of exuding in his final year in F1, it is seriousness. The Finnish racer, rooted to the bottom of the championship table as the only current driver yet to score this year, has become an unlikely source of humour and positivity for the sport’s constantly expanding social media generation.

Only this week, after his teammate Zhou Guanyu secured Sauber’s first top-10 finish of the season in Qatar, Bottas posted an Instagram photo of him laughing in the pit lane with the caption: “When I got told I’ll score points in 2024.”

The tomfoolery should not be mistaken for apathy, however. Languishing hopelessly at the back of the pack, week-in week-out in the luminous 2024 Sauber car, has not been an uplifting existence.

“It’s been a difficult season, I would say the most difficult of my F1 career,” he says. Now, he is serious.

“Results-wise, it’s actually been similar to my first year in F1 (when he scored four points for Williams in 2013). But that’s different. At this stage of my career, it’s been the toughest of rides.

“That’s the thing with this sport: it’s not always fair. It’s required a different mindset, for sure. But I’m coping with it. And I think I’m coping with it well.”

Why plummet into dark areas of despair, in a situation largely out of your control? Sauber – who become Audi in 2026 and have quite the mountain to climb – have produced a snail of a car this year. Signing a three-year contract upon leaving Mercedes in 2021, this was not the swansong Bottas envisaged.

But the decade-plus career Bottas has experienced should not be blindly dismissed as a sideshow. Debuting for Wiliams, Bottas was in the right place at the right time when Nico Rosberg shockingly retired after winning his first title in 2016 with Mercedes.

With the 2017 season a matter of months away, Wolff needed a driver quickly. He needed a reliable, seasoned pro. Bottas was his man.

What followed was one of the most prosperous partnerships in F1 history. Of course, it is no secret that Bottas did not have Hamilton’s world-class skillset and racecraft. Not many do. But his genuine good grace was not lost on the driver alongside him in the garage.

Nor Wolff or former chief strategist James Vowles – even if his “Valtteri, it’s James” radio messages, to signal another incoming request to help Hamilton, quickly became meme-able material.

Twice a runner-up, he came closest in 2019, finishing 87 points off Hamilton. A world championship wasn’t completely unfathomable. No regrets, though.

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”Being part of that Mercedes era was awesome,” he reflects. “I remember those times with a smile.

“I have thought about different races I should have driven differently but with the experience I had at the time and the state of mind, I felt like I definitely gave it my all.

“I gave it the best I can... but it wasn’t quite enough to beat Lewis in his prime. So no regrets.”

And so to Sunday: the finale. Bottas bowed out from Mercedes in a cloud of smoke amid Hamilton’s contentious title defeat to Max Verstappen in 2021. Once again, his friend from Stevenage is set to steal his limelight, as Hamilton heads to the sport’s most famous marque in Ferrari.

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But Bottas won’t mind. Not then and not now. Openly comfortable in his own skin, with a plenitude of aerobic-inducing and charity-based hobbies on the horizon with Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell by his side, Bottas is a man free from any angst or distress.

There may even be a route back in the future for Bottas, with 11th team Cadillac joining in 2026. Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo have proven that second chances can come along if you stay in the fray.

But until then, there will be no sulking after a torrid year to forget. Which, after a career many can only dream of, is perhaps the greatest attribute of the lot.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix begins at 1pm (UK time) on Sunday 8 December. Coverage on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event from 11.30am