Valtteri Viktor Bottas is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from 2017 to 2021 and Williams from 2013 to 2016.
95 Facts About Valtteri Bottas
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Valtteri Bottas contributed to five constructors championship wins for Mercedes, and has been drivers' championship runner-up twice, in 2019 and 2020.
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Valtteri Bottas would remain at Williams until 2017, achieving a top championship position of fourth in 2014 and finishing on the podium nine times during his time with Williams.
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Valtteri Bottas's father owns a small cleaning company, and his mother is an undertaker.
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Valtteri Bottas served in the army briefly, which is mandatory for adult males in Finland.
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Valtteri Bottas's racing hero while growing up was compatriot Mika Hakkinen.
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Valtteri Bottas won both the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2008 Formula Renault Northern European Cup.
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Valtteri Bottas would have won the 2007 Formula Renault UK Winter Series, had he been holding an MSA-registered licence for the championship.
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Valtteri Bottas moved up into the Formula Three Euroseries for the 2009 season, competing for reigning champions ART Grand Prix.
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In June 2009, Valtteri Bottas won the 2009 Masters of Formula 3, claiming the pole position and setting the fastest lap of the race.
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In 2010, Valtteri Bottas was assigned test driver for the Williams Formula One team and would continue as such for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
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Valtteri Bottas returned to racing in 2013, as he was confirmed as teammate to Pastor Maldonado at Williams-Renault for the 2013 season on 28 November 2012.
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Valtteri Bottas scored his first points finish at the United States Grand Prix by finishing 8th.
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On 11 November 2013, Valtteri Bottas was confirmed to continue with Williams-Mercedes in 2014 alongside Felipe Massa, who was signed from Ferrari to replace Pastor Maldonado.
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Valtteri Bottas was later promoted to 5th after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from 2nd position.
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Valtteri Bottas was taken to The Alfred Hospital for precautionary checks, where he was diagnosed with soft tissue damage to his lower back, and was not medically cleared to race.
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Two races earlier, Valtteri Bottas had been on course to finish third in Russia before Raikkonen collided with him while trying to overtake on the final lap of the race.
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Valtteri Bottas finished 5th in the Drivers' Championship beating his experienced teammate Felipe Massa for the second consecutive year.
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Valtteri Bottas claimed third place at the Canadian Grand Prix, matching his result of the previous year.
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Valtteri Bottas finished 8th in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of his teammate Massa's 11th place.
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Valtteri Bottas finished 3rd in his first race as a Mercedes driver, the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, behind Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
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Valtteri Bottas managed to qualify on pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, marking his first career pole position.
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Valtteri Bottas won the 2017 Russian Grand Prix on 30 April 2017, his first Grand Prix win, after jumping the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen from 3rd on the grid on the first lap, making him the fifth Finn to win a Grand Prix.
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Valtteri Bottas retired from 3rd in the next race in Spain with an engine issue, having previously survived a collision with Verstappen and Raikkonen on the first lap that took the other two drivers out of the race.
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Valtteri Bottas used the multiple safety cars and red flag period to catch up to the pack and the ensuing chaos and drama in front of him allowed him to eventually snatch 2nd at the last moment of the last lap from Lance Stroll.
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Valtteri Bottas topped this at the next race with a pole and victory at Austria, holding off Sebastian Vettel's charging Ferrari towards the end of the race, putting him only 15 points behind Hamilton in the championship.
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Valtteri Bottas then finished off the podium for the next three races, while Hamilton racked up two wins and a second place, as Mercedes clinched their fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship in the USA.
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Valtteri Bottas got his third pole position of the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix, but finished the race in 2nd place after conceding the lead to Vettel at the first corner.
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Valtteri Bottas finished 3rd overall in the Drivers' Championship with 305 points.
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On 13 September 2017, Mercedes announced that Valtteri Bottas would be driving for them in the 2018 season.
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Valtteri Bottas started the season poorly in Australia, where he crashed out in Q3 and was given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox as a result, meaning he would start the race in 15th place; his teammate Hamilton started the race from pole.
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Valtteri Bottas bounced back in Bahrain by putting his car third on the grid, behind the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen but ahead of Hamilton who qualified fourth.
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Valtteri Bottas again pounced on Raikkonen at the start, after his fellow Finn had been squeezed by Vettel, and moved up to second.
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Valtteri Bottas then managed to overtake Vettel during the first pit stop phase and took the lead with a move around the outside of Raikkonen, who had yet to pit, at the first corner.
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Valtteri Bottas finished second in the race and remained third in the championship, and 14 points behind leader Vettel.
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Valtteri Bottas remained in third for the first period of the race, but when both Hamilton and Vettel pitted for new tyres Bottas inherited the lead.
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Valtteri Bottas stayed out for 15 more laps until the Red Bulls collided and brought out the safety car.
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Ahead of the German Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas signed a new contract with Mercedes for the 2019 season with an option for the 2020 season.
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Valtteri Bottas was again signed to race with Mercedes for the 2019 season alongside world champion Lewis Hamilton.
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Valtteri Bottas recorded the fastest lap of the race and therefore gained the extra point awarded to the driver who records the fastest race lap, according to the 2019 regulations.
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Valtteri Bottas carried on to win by over 20 seconds to his nearest rival and team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
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Valtteri Bottas's teammate jumped him at the start and stayed there for the entire race to win.
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Valtteri Bottas meanwhile finished 2nd to give Mercedes their third one-two in a row for 2019.
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Valtteri Bottas went on to finish second behind Hamilton, making it the team's fifth one-two in a row.
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Valtteri Bottas eventually finished 3rd, behind Sebastian Vettel and ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who faced a five-second penalty for an unsafe release into the pit lane, into Bottas.
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Valtteri Bottas took his first victory in thirteen races at the Japanese Grand Prix.
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Valtteri Bottas took his seventh career victory at the following race in the United States.
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Valtteri Bottas suffered an engine failure in Brazil leading to his second retirement of the season, and ended the season with a 4th-place finish in Abu Dhabi.
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Valtteri Bottas finished the 2019 season in 2nd place in the championship with 326 points, the most successful season of his career to date.
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Valtteri Bottas recorded four wins, fifteen podium finishes, five pole positions and three fastest laps.
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Valtteri Bottas continued driving at Mercedes alongside Hamilton for 2020, having agreed to a one-year extension to his contract during the 2019 season.
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Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time in pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
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Valtteri Bottas took pole position at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix and led the race from start to finish.
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Valtteri Bottas was able to recover to third place by the end of the Grand Prix but lost the lead of the championship to Hamilton.
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Valtteri Bottas ran closely behind Hamilton for most of the race but fell back in the closing laps before suffering a tyre failure with four laps remaining.
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Valtteri Bottas returned to the pits for a tyre change and eventually crossed the finish line in 11th place.
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Valtteri Bottas secured pole position at the following week's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, but tyre issues for the Mercedes cars allowed Max Verstappen to pass both and win the race.
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Valtteri Bottas fell to third place behind Hamilton in the closing laps.
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Verstappen's retirement in the race allowed Valtteri Bottas to regain second place in the drivers' championship, 47 points behind Hamilton.
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At the Tuscan Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas took the lead from pole-sitter Hamilton on the first lap.
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The race was red-flagged on lap seven after a multi-car accident, and Valtteri Bottas lost the lead of the race to Hamilton shortly after the restart, eventually finishing second.
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Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, but was overtaken by Hamilton for the lead after a lock-up at turn 1, and later fell further behind after Hamilton was able to make a pit stop during a virtual safety car period.
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Shortly afterwards, Valtteri Bottas complained of power loss and was forced to retire from the race, extending Hamilton's championship lead to 69 points.
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Valtteri Bottas finished second at both the Portuguese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix.
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Valtteri Bottas took pole position at the latter, but took damage from debris in the early laps and fell to third before Verstappen retired with a tyre failure.
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The rain continued during the race and Valtteri Bottas spun six times after damaging his front wing due to contact with the Renault of Esteban Ocon, finishing a lap behind eventual race winner Hamilton in 14th place.
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When Russell went into the pits for a tyre change, he was mistakenly fitted with Valtteri Bottas' tyres, causing Valtteri Bottas a slow stop of almost half a minute before getting sent out without a tyre change.
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Valtteri Bottas finished the Driver's Championship in 2nd with 223 points, recording two wins, five pole positions, eleven podiums, and two fastest laps.
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Valtteri Bottas achieved the same result at the Spanish Grand Prix after qualifying third and being overtaken by Leclerc at the start.
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At the Monaco Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas was challenging for pole position, until Charles Leclerc crashed at the 16th corner, causing a red flag to be displayed and qualifying to be immediately ended before Valtteri Bottas could complete his lap.
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Valtteri Bottas was promoted to second after Charles Leclerc could not start the race due to a car issue.
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Valtteri Bottas's race, ended on lap 31 after his team was unable to remove a wheel during a routine pitstop.
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Hamilton suffered damage to his car and the team ordered Hamilton to allow Valtteri Bottas to overtake him.
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At the Italian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas took first in the Friday qualifying session and went on to win the sprint qualifying on Saturday, but incurred grid penalties for changing components.
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Valtteri Bottas comfortably led most of the race from Verstappen until his pitstop.
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Valtteri Bottas struggled with dirty air throughout the race, which made overtaking difficult, but he managed to climb back to 6th after overtaking the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz on the last lap.
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Valtteri Bottas suffered a poor start in the race and was tagged by Daniel Ricciardo going into Turn 1, sending him to the back of the field.
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Valtteri Bottas let Hamilton past and re-overtook Perez during the pitstop phase, ending the race in third.
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Valtteri Bottas is under contract to race with Alfa Romeo from 2022 on a multi-year deal.
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At the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas set a target of a top five finish.
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Once the race was resumed, Valtteri Bottas faced pressure from both Mercedes, as Russell had taken advantage of the safety car to fit new tyres while the rest of the field were on worn hards compound tyres.
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On lap 50, Valtteri Bottas made a mistake going into the last corner, outbreaking himself and tapping the wall, which allowed both his pursuers to overtake him.
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At the Austrian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas made up places at the start to finish 10th in the sprint race, he finished 11th in the main race.
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In January 2019, Valtteri Bottas took part in the Arctic Rally, recording a stage win and finishing fifth overall.
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In 2020, Valtteri Bottas again participated in the Arctic Lapland Rally, where he drove a Citroen DS3 WRC car and finished ninth.
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Valtteri Bottas later partook in an Extreme E test in October 2020, alongside Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastien Loeb.
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In January 2021, Valtteri Bottas competed in his third Arctic Lapland Rally.
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Valtteri Bottas scored a class podium and finished sixth overall.
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Valtteri Bottas was set to make his Race of Champions debut in 2022, partnering two-time Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen.
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On 11 September 2016, Valtteri Bottas married his long-time girlfriend, Emilia Pikkarainen, a fellow Finn and an Olympic swimmer whom he had been dating since 2010.
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On 28 November 2019, Valtteri Bottas announced their separation and divorce, citing the "challenges my career and life situation bring".
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Since February 2020, Valtteri Bottas has been in a relationship with Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
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Valtteri Bottas is a co-founder and partner of FNLD GRVL, a gravel cycling event in Lahti, Finland.
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Valtteri Bottas is partnered with Amy Charity of SBT GRVL and Tiffany Cromwell.
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In March 2021, Valtteri Bottas became a co-owner of the Lahti Pelicans of Liiga when he bought a 10 percent stake in the team.