Valtteri
Bottas

Valtteri Bottas was born on 28 August 1989 in Nastola, Finland, and started karting at the age of six. He moved into junior formulae in 2007 and won both the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup in 2008. He took the Masters of Formula 3 in 2009 and again in 2010, then won the GP3 Series in 2011. From 2010 he was also a test and reserve driver for Williams, taking part in several Friday practice sessions in 2012.

Bottas became a full-time Williams driver in 2013 and made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, finishing the year 17th in the championship. In 2014 he came fourth overall, scored his first podium in Austria and stood on the podium six times that season. He was fifth in 2015 and eighth in 2016, when his podium in Canada was the team's only one of the year.

In 2017 he joined Mercedes to partner Lewis Hamilton, replacing the retired champion Nico Rosberg. He took his first pole position in Bahrain and his first Grand Prix win in Russia, added victories in Austria and Abu Dhabi, and finished third in the standings. He went winless in 2018 and ended the year fifth. In 2019 and 2020 he was runner-up to Hamilton, winning four races in 2019 and two in 2020. He finished third in 2021 and took his final Mercedes win at the Turkish Grand Prix. The team won the Constructors' Championship in all five of his seasons there, and George Russell took his seat for 2022.

Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo, finishing 10th in 2022 and 15th in 2023. In 2024 the team ran as Kick Sauber; he scored no points and ended 22nd, last of the full-time drivers and in the first pointless season of his career. In 2025 he returned to Mercedes as reserve driver. For 2026 he drives for Cadillac in the team's debut season, alongside Sergio Pérez.

Source: Wikipedia, “Valtteri Bottas”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.