Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas is a Finnish racing driver who drives for Sauber/ Stake F1 team in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship.

Valtteri Viktor Bottas was born on August 28, 1989, to father Rauno Bottas and mother Marianne Välimaa. The Finnish driver was born in Nastola, Finland and he represents Finland in his racing career.

Having great racing role models in Finland, such as Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen, and Kimi Räikkönen, there were only a handful of sports that Bottas could have ended up doing, and when it ended up being motorsport, it wasn't surprising at all.

Bottas' favorite driver was Mika Häkkinen, and he started karting already at the age of six. The Finnish driver successfully progressed through his karting career, winning events such as the Viking Trophy, WSK International Series, and the Finnish Championship.

After that, he also won the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2008 Formula Renault Northern European Cup. The Flying Finn continued his success at the GP3 Series, which he won in 2011.

Already in 2010, he was a test driver for the Williams Formula One team, and during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, he completed multiple Free Practice sessions, but it wasn't until 2013 that he made his F1 debut, competing for Williams Racing at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix alongside Pastor Maldonado.

Bottas finished fourth, fifth, and eighth, respectively, between 2014 and 2016 when racing for Williams Racing, and after the 2016 season, when Nico Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for Mercedes and made a sudden decision to retire from the sport, the Finnish driver replaced him in the team, joining Lewis Hamilton.

Alongside Hamilton, the Finn completed five seasons in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, finishing second and third twice in the World Drivers' Championship and winning the World Constructors' Championship five times.

After five successful seasons, Bottas didn't get to drive for Mercedes in 2022, as George Russell joined the team after showing a lot of promise in Williams Racing, the team where also the Finnish driver started his career. Bottas then joined the Alfa Romeo F1 Team for the 2022 season.

After the end of the 2023 season, Alfa Romeo ended its collaboration with Sauber, and the team that Bottas currently races for was rebranded to the Stake F1 team.