Comment: Valtteri Bottas’ F1 career could not be more perfect | Sport

Comment Valtteri Bottas F1 career could not be more perfect

Valtteri Bottas is likely to drive his last F1 race this weekend. At least in the next season, he will not have a place as an F1 race driver, and it will not be very easy for a driver who turns 36 next year to return to the series.

Of course, it is possible that Bottas will drive in 2026 in the ranks of Cadillac, which is part of the series, but in the big picture, that does not change the kind of career the Finn, who jumped from Nastola to international circles, has had in Formula One.

In Finland, Bottas’ F1 career that lasted 12 seasons seems to be considered a disappointment.

Everything else.

Every seam perfectly captured

Bottas’ F1 career started in the 2013 season as a race driver for Williams. For the then 23-year-old driver, getting an F1 seat was definitely not a given.

Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Raikkonen are the Finnish world champions of the sport.

Among them, for example, Räikkönen became Formula 1 with the reputation of great super talent, at only 21 years old. He was immediately considered Häkkinen’s successor at McLaren.

Räikkönen redeemed his potential by winning the 2007 world championship. In addition, he was very close to the championship in 2003 and 2005.

However, Valtteri Bottas, born in 1989, was not as talented as Kimi Räikkönen in any field when he was younger.

A talented and fast driver, but by no means an exceptional individual. Cases like his have been the darkest in the small formula classes.

In 2011, it was almost certain that Bottas’ dream of F1 might have been completely buried.

Bottas’ important season in the GP3 series got off to a bad start, but the Finn nevertheless managed to turn his course. He took a few wins and captured the series championship before James Caladoa.

After the championship, Bottas’ career progressed by leaps and bounds. In 2012, he served as Williams’ reserve driver and was promoted to the team’s race driver for the following season.

Williams had been behind Bottas for several years. But if Bottas had not been able to reverse his weak course in the GP3 season, his way to formula one would probably have run away.

Bottas’ F1 career is characterized by the fact that he has survived several trials as a winner and at the same time denied better opportunities for his future.

First the GP3 Championship. Then, in his opening season at Williams, his teammate and race winner Pastor Maldonado beating. In the years 2014–2016, he left a meritorious career with the competitive Williams Felipe Massa’s to look at the tail lights.

Bottas made the most of every opportunity he had.

Formula 1 also requires luck. When Nico Rosberg unexpectedly announced after his championship season in 2016 that he would end his career, eyes turned to Bottas. To get to this point, however, it was necessary that the Finn had done everything right in his career up to that point.

The championship talks started from the glove

When Bottas arrived in Formula 1, the series was undergoing a major driver revolution.

Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber stopped. From champion drivers Fernando AlonsoRäikkönen and Jenson Button were no longer at their best.

New blood was needed in the top brass. Eyes locked to Daniel Ricciardo and to Bottas.

On the other hand, they are among the most successful drivers of all time Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel kept the level of requirements at a low level in relation to the world championships.

Ricciardo and Bottas are great drivers, but their potential was overestimated.

At the time, there wasn’t enough quality in Formula 1. Ricciardo and Bottas were the best of the next generation of drivers.

Eight years younger than them Max Verstappen was, after Hamilton and Vettel, the first such driver with genuine championship potential.

When Bottas replaced Rosberg with Mercedes, talk of the world championship immediately started in Finland. Many ignored the fact that Hamilton, who drove as Bottas’ teammate, was not just any blacksmith.

This is a driver who, right in his rookie season, put Fernando Alonso, who won the previous two world championships, in the dust and was very close to the championship.

So it was completely unreasonable to demand the world championship from Bottas just because he has the best car in the series.

With one of the sport’s most talented drivers of all time next to you, a less talented driver will face the limits. It’s top sport.

It can be said that Bottas managed to maximize his potential during his five seasons with Mercedes. At no point was he close to the championship, but he did what the other driver in the top stable can do at best.

Was reliable. He often brought the car to the finish line as second or third. Didn’t fool around.

In qualifying, he was quite often able to give his teammate a very strong resistance. There were plenty of pole positions.

It has now been seen that handling the role of a tough second driver in a top team is not a given. Red Bull Sergio Perez has been, especially during the previous two seasons, completely out of sorts compared to his teammate Max Verstappen.

There is a huge difference in the performance of Bottas and Perez as the second driver of a top team.

An extraordinary career

Finnish F1 drivers can be divided into two categories.

There are those who have won championships and had long careers. Then there are drivers whose success has been more modest and whose careers have been shorter.

The first category includes Kimi Räikkönen, Mika Häkkinen and Keke Rosberg. To the latter Mika Salo, Heikki Kovalainen and Jyrki Järvilehto.

Thanks to Finland’s great formula traditions, an atmosphere has been built up, where championships are literally shouted for. If you’re not world champion, you’re nothing as an F1 driver, the thinking goes.

Valtteri Bottas has had an extraordinary F1 career in Finnish terms. He hasn’t won a championship, but has nevertheless created a long and successful career.

Almost in the top 10 in the number of F1 starts (245). Ten wins. 20 pole positions. Second most podium places among Finns, no less than 67.

Bottas comes to mind as someone who was successful in ski jumping in the early 2000s Matti Hautamäki. He won 16 World Cup races, but in Finland he was only a good runner-up Janne Ahonen after.

Today, with similar success, Hautamäki would be the biggest star in Finnish sports.

The same can be said about Bottas, who, even in his best years, was clearly overshadowed by the very popular Kimi Räikkönen. Maybe in 10–15 years we will also be able to appreciate Bottas’ achievements.

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