Last Updated on January 24 2025, 11:46 am

Valtteri Bottas for now has exited Formula One having been given the vote of no confidence by the Audi masters who control the Kick Sauber team. Both he and team mate Zhou Guangu were given there marching orders as the German powers that be chose the impressive Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari academy driver older lang with current F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto as their driver line up for the coming season.

The Finnish driver ran a social media campaign over the final race weekends of 2024, enticing his fans as to the future with the slogan “What next?” Of course what happened next was almost entirely predictable as Bottas returned to Mercedes as their chief reserve driver replacing the departing Mick Schumacher.

Of course as reserve driver there is always the potential for one of the fun time pilots to become unavailable as evidenced by Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz in 2023 and 2024 respectively with appendicitis. Franco Colapinto was the Williams reserve and on the sacking of Logan Sargeant he was awarded the final nine Grand Prix weekends of last season.

 

 

 

Bottas Mercedes return

With unproven rookie Kimi Antonelli replacing the seven times champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, there is always the chance the young Italian will implode and the once wingman for Lewis Hamilton would again be afforded another full time drive for the silver arrows.

The probability of this scenario is unlikely, given Mercedes believe Antonelli has similar potential to the young Max Verstappen and so in fact he will be given even more time than another rookie without his pedigree.

Valtteri Bottas divides opinions amongst F1 fans, some believe the narrative on Netflix Drive to Survive portrays him as ‘unlucky’ more than most and as the driver who Mercedes’ “screwed over” most in terms of ensuring his team mate gained as many championship points as possible.

Yet on his day, Valtteri was up there across a single lap against Lewis Hamilton who in his pomp was one of the greatest qualifiers of all time = as his 104 pole positions suggests. Bottas was there to pick up the pieces more often than not when Hamilton was unable to take victory, something Red Bull Racing would have prized above all last year in their number two driver Sergio Perez.

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Valtteri admits being in denial

On the list of all time F1 race winners, Valtteri sits just above half way up the table with hi ten Grand Prix victories over his twelve years in Formula One. He sits alongside James Hunt, Ronnie Peterson, Jody Scheckter and Gerhard Burger, all of whom raced in an era where there were just over half the number of annual F1 events as are held today.

Bottas caught the eye during his five years with Williams when he finished P4, P5 and P8 in the drivers’ championship between 2014-2016. He of course was the beneficiary of the shock retirement by Nico Rosberg in December 2016 following his defeat of team mate Lewis Hamilton for that seasons WDC.

Rate Bottas as an F1 driver or not, his honesty is without contention. Having left Mercedes the Finn reflected the only way he could cope with being the team mate of Lewis Hamilton each year, was to persuade himself he was capable of beating the F1 star, whether this in reality was delusion, Valtteri explained to Motorsport.com.

“You have to be in denial. I was in denial for almost five years because every year, I wanted to get back to the season and then fight for the title and I had to believe in myself,” Valtteri revealed. 

“With Lewis, only in the last year could I accept to myself that in equal machinery over a period of a full season, I really struggled to beat him and that he’s probably better in certain areas. As a racing driver, to admit that to yourself, is hard.” 

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Sponsor comes out of the woodwork

Still for many, Valtteri Bottas is a good guy, a team player and whilst never world championship material, certainly worth his place amongst the higher order teams on the F1 grid. Yet another side of Bottas has now been revealed by former friend and sponsor, Finnish billionaire Antti Aarnio-Wihuri. As head of the Wihuri Group conglomerate, he ensured the company backed not only Bottas’ junior career, but also provided personal sponsorship during the Finn’s stints at Williams and Mercedes.

This ended in 2018, through no reason for the parting od the ways was ever given. In an explosive ‘tell all’ the French Billionaire is finally having his say, speaking to the Urheilulehti newspaper. “We stopped supporting Bottas when his personal income exceeded one million euros,” explains Wihuri. “We thought it didn’t make sense for us to support a guy whose income was at that level.”

The response was swift and concise. Valtteri Bottas then cut off all communication with his former financier, both in a professional and personal capacity. “It’s not a difficult thing for me,” Wihuri adds. “But I do wonder about a person whose entire career depended on us and then he just stops all contact.

“We even arranged for him to join Mercedes. He would never have gotten there without us.” When questioned as to why a person would behave in such a fashion, Wihuri is vague. “I can’t say. Probably because of his character. He hasn’t said a word to me since then. We’ve seen each other here and there in the world, but not a word.”

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Valtteri eyes Cadillac F1 drive

Bottas behaviour according to Aarnio-Wihuri was as expected quite different when the funds were flowing and the Finn is currently holidaying in Australia and has not seen it fit to reply. The CEO and former sponsor of Valtteri concludes he is now free to speak given Bottas F1 career is now basically over.

“My understanding is that his career is over, or practically so,” said Wihuri. “And he’s getting to that age, too. “I know the Mercedes team quite well,” he said, “and Bottas was basically the second driver. But the team still gave him a lot of free rein.

“You could say that he was given the opportunity to succeed. But he was the second driver, which in the results was also quite clear. We even discussed it with (Toto) Wolff. That’s why I dare to say now the way it was.”

With the advent of the eleventh team joining the F1 grid next year, Bottas may be holding out for the ‘experienced driver’ role that the US owned team will surely require. Others in competition for the slot include Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen, all of whom left F1 by the end of the 2024 season.

Haas F1 boss on team relocation

 

 

 

F1 driver supports draconian FIA new punishments

Mohammed Ben Sulyamen will be remembered for his rule at the HQ of the FIA in the place de Concorde. The president was unanimously voted in as head of the organisation by over 200 national member associations. His mandate was to return the FIA to its members with the inherent message that Formula One was not the only administrative function the FIA delivers.

Yet unlike his predecessor Jean Todt, who at times was invisible when the ructions broke out in Formula One, Ben Sulayem has chosen to be front and centre almost in an effort to rival Stefano Domenicali, who as CEO of FOM under Liberty Media is credited with taking the sport forward in leaps and bounds.

The Emirati ex-rally driver inherited a hot potato on day one. His presidency was confirmed just days before the 2021 showdown in the Abu Dhabi desert, when race director Michael Massi gave some unusual safety car restart instructions. The result being Mercedes Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton boycotted the end of season FIA gala, just days after the season finale which saw Hamilton miss out on a record eight F1 drivers’ title…. READ MORE