Current Valtteri Bottas

…….and finally Williams confirm that Valtteri Bottas will be in the race seat for the 2013 season. As I’m seen on here as his biggest fan I thought I better get an article written and a thread started for the lad.

Born 28th August 1989 in Nastola Finland he currently resides in Oxford. His single seater career started in 2007 with a 3rd place in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series, he followed that up in 2008 by winning the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series and the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series. In 2009 he stepped up to the Formula 3 Euroseries coming 3rd but winning the Maters of Formula 3 one off race a feat he was to repeat in 2010. 2011 was the year he suddenly jumped to everyones attention when he cruised to the GP3 championship and spent the whole season as Williams test driver impressing big time in the 2011 Abu Dhabi young drivers test by setting pretty competitive times in a car which wasn’t viewed as very quick. He was so impressive he put himself in the running for the Williams F1 seat but in the end the team went with bringing in the funds of Bruno Senna but satisfied Bottas with a contract which made sure he got plenty of running in the car on a Friday morning something that he grabbed hold of with both hands.

Not running in any other series meant Valtteri was concentrating completely on his job as Williams and a lot of essential team members at Williams have come out and said how much help he has been at setting up the car, which seeing as the Williams was a far better car this year can only be seen as a plus for him. A year doing test stuff must have been frustrating but in the long run I actually think it might be a big plus for him as he’s had a whole season of watching and learning how a technical team like Williams work and will certainly have a lot more knowledge of set up and how an F1 team works than the majority of rookies coming in. Of course its helped even more that he’s impressed in his Friday morning sessions, keeping pace with Maldonado on nearly every occasion and beating him on a fair few. This has of course lead to complaints from Bruno Senna about how he is not as quick due to not getting enough time but I can twist that round on itself because Bottas had even less time yet seemed to be able to jump in the car and be on the pace. What can he do with a full weekend in the cockpit? I guess we’ll see.

So we’ve seen he has pace, we’re told he had technical know how, and his junior career shows he knows how to win so it all looks good but having said that a lot of drivers have looked good and not been able to translate it so the proof is in the pudding as they say. So why have I championed him so much? Well to me Williams are a big team and should act like a big team. They got their Renault engines back and showed they can still design a car and produced a race winning one for 2012 and I can’t help but feel if their driver selection had been more about talent than funds we’d have seen them finish a lot higher up in the championship. Maldonado is a winner, he has pace, he just needs to calm down. I couldn’t say the same for Senna, so when you see a talented youngster who is obviously quick but has no financial backing whatsoever I can’t help but root for Williams to take a gamble on bringing him in.

So now we know he’ll get his shot and we’ll see whether he can match the faith shown in him. Lets also hope that Williams give him a car to show us he has talent. The second rookie on the grid for next year and this is the first rookie for a while that’s come in on talent with very little financial backing something I think Formula 1 could do with more of.

So before he turns a wheel what do we thing? The next flying Finn or the worst Scandinavian since Magnuersen?
 
considering Massa is suppose to at the autumn of his career whilst Bottas only beginning its important for him to do so because the question will be was it down to the car last season then
 
Pretty credible reports now (e.g Corriere dello Sport) suggesting Bottas to be announced (by end of July?) as Ferrari driver in 2016 replacing Kimi. The buyout of his contract from Williams could be pretty lucrative for them too.
 
Last edited:
What shame Ferrari couldn't be a bit more imaginative like they were in the Old Man's days. Niki Lauda had done bits of three season when he got a Ferrai drive and went on to win two World Championships. Gilles Villeneuve had only driven one race before the Scuderia signed him. Ah well.
 
RasputinLives I remember when Nannini was suppose to be Ferrari driver to replace Mansell back in 1990 only for them to suddenly cancel it upon seeing Alesi wanted to join Ferrari and buy him out of the other contracts

I remember supposedly for 1996 the second Ferrari seat was suppose to go to either

Badoer, Tarquini, Martini or Fisichella and the press were stirring up that there was a shoot out to decide the 2nd seat then out of the blue they actually bought out Irvine's contract after he was supposedly retained by Jordan

So its not unusual that Ferrari does a few swerves to get their man

As for Hulkenberg apparently Alonso vetoed him as teammate (and more of a potential threat to his reputation than Raikkonen)

Now Bottas would not join Ferrari just to be No 2 ?

I think for Bottas he needs to move and $15m is a lot of money Williams could do with
 
Had to go back a few pages to find Valerie's thread, not a driver who generates much discussion is he? Anyway, he's got married. Well done him.

14332980_1171959869527638_7937786321709656113_n.jpg
 
not a driver who generates much discussion is he?

For a brief moment he was highly rated by both fans and those inside the sport. Sadly the mediocrity of this years Williams and his inability to make beating his teammate look anything other than a bit of a struggle all mean he's fast becoming yesterdays man.

He's also not helped by the fact that Manor are the new Mercedes feeder team and with Hamilton and Rosberg set to remain for a couple more years his ship may well have sailed.
 
There could be still miles left in this story as Bottas is still not confirmed at Williams so might he hold out for a Renault drive ?

Valtteri 's career has stagnated and its only recently that he has got the better of Massa . Still it is very difficult to see his options going forward if he does not take a punt now with the REnault offer if its genuine
 
It appears 2017 will be a do or die year for Bottas, as it appears he has only been granted a one year contract, with the explicit consideration from Mercedes that potentially there will be quite a few top drivers on the market at the end of 2017. (Vettel, Alonso, etc.)
 
well it is sink or swim for Valtteri otherwise he will be going back to Williams again you'd think

The minimum for him must be top 5 with podiums and the odd win
 
He's got to be competitive with the other car. Doubt they truly expect him to beat Hamilton over a season, but then again nor did they expect Rosberg to.
 
well it is sink or swim for Valtteri otherwise he will be going back to Williams again you'd think

The minimum for him must be top 5 with podiums and the odd win

To be honest, if the Merc is as dominant as the last 3 years, the minimum for Bottas would be 2nd in the WDC, and a minimum of 90% of Hamilton's points!
 
Back
Top Bottom