Valtteri Bottas

Bottas' early career

Valtteri Bottas finished eighth in the 2005 Karting World Cup before winning the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup.

He would have won the 2007 Formula Renault UK Winter Series as well, however, he did not hold an MSA-registered licence for the championship. Nevertheless, he still managed to win three out of the four races.

The Finn made the move to the Formula Three Euroseries in 2009. Although he did not win a race, he ended the season third in the championship with two pole positions. He won back-to-back Masters of Formula 3 titles in 2009 and 2010, becoming the first driver to achieve the feat.

After being named Williams test driver in 2010, he continued in the role in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, he also took part in the GP3 Series, claiming a win at each of the last four race weekends to secure the title over team-mate James Calado.

F1 debut with Williams

Bottas finally made the move to an F1 seat in 2013, partnering Pastor Maldonado at Williams, and it was a baptism of fire. His first, and only points finish of the season, came at the penultimate race in the United States with eighth.

For 2014, with the introduction of the new turbo-hybrid power unit rules and powered by the dominant Mercedes engine of the time, Williams dramatically turned a corner in terms of performance and results.

Bottas scored points in the first five races, before a trio of successive podiums in Austria, Silverstone and Germany, the latter two occasions finishing second to Lewis Hamilton initially, and then the Briton's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

A further three podiums followed in Belgium, Russia and Abu Dhabi, elevating him to fourth in the drivers' championship, and the team to third in the constructors' standings, its best finish since 2003.

After failing to start the season-opening 2015 Australian Grand Prix due to a back injury sustained in qualifying, the Finn saw results fade compared to the year before, scoring just two podiums - in Canada and Mexico - en route to fifth in the standings.

Williams continued its slide in 2016, although Bottas and team-mate Felipe Massa were the only two drivers to finish in the points in the opening five races of the season.

Bottas, though, managed just one podium finish all year in Canada. Although he had to settle for eighth place in the drivers' championship, he did finish the year out-qualifying his team-mate 17-4 over the course of the campaign.

Bottas' big move to Mercedes

After four seasons with Williams, Bottas made the switch to Mercedes in January 2017, replacing the departing Nico Rosberg, who announced his shock retirement from the sport after winning the 2016 championship.

After finishing third in two of the first three races in Australia and Bahrain, in his 80th grand prix, Bottas secured his maiden win in Russia. Further wins followed in Austria and Abu Dhabi, as well as a string of podiums, but he had to settle for third in the title race, 58 points behind championship-winning team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

It was a similar story over the following three years as Hamilton continued to dominate, taking his championship count to seven, whilst Bottas was fifth in 2018, in which he set a new F1 record for most runner-up finishes - seven - without netting a win, whilst he was title runner-up in 2019 and 2020. 

In Covid-hit 2020, he started the season with a victory, only for Hamilton to win 11 of the remaining 14 races.

In what proved to be Bottas' final year with Mercedes in 2021, he scored 11 podiums, including a sole victory in Turkey, but he was again in the shadow of Hamilton, who missed out on a record-breaking eighth title that year in contentious circumstances. Bottas was only third, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen clinched his third crown.

It was confirmed in September that Bottas would be leaving the team at the end of the year, embarking on a new chapter with the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo team.

Pastures new for Bottas

With new aerodynamic regulations in force, it appeared to be a shrewd move at first as Bottas scored points in seven of the first nine races. It was all downhill, however, after that.

Over the remaining 59 races of Bottas' time with the team that changed its name to Stake in 2024, Bottas only managed a further six points-scoring finishes, with the latter the worst year of his career as he failed to finish in the top 10 for the first time.

With the team transitioning to Audi for 2026, it opted for an all-new driver pairing for 2025 to take it into that era, leaving Bottas on the sidelines as Nico Hülkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto stepped in.

For 2025, Bottas returned to Mercedes as its reserve driver to George Russell and another rookie, Kimi Antonelli.

It was announced in late August that year that Bottas, alongside another returning driver in Sergio Perez, would form the driver line-up in 2026 for the newest team on the grid, Cadillac.