Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas Bottas in 2009. Born 28 August 1989 Nastola, Finland Formula One World Championship career Nationality Finnish 2016 team Williams-Mercedes[1] Car number 77 Entries 61 (60 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 8 Career points 345 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 1 First entry 2013 Australian Grand Prix Last entry 2016 Russian Grand Prix 2015 position 5th (136 pts) Previous series 2012 2011 2009–10 2009, 2011 2008 2007–08 2007 Formula One testing GP3 Series Formula 3 Euro Series British Formula 3 Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault NEC FRUK Winter Series Championship titles 2011 2008 2008 GP3 Series Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Valtteri Bottas (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈʋɑltːeɾi ˈbotːɑs]; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Williams Martini Racing. He currently resides in Monaco. His current best career achievement was in 2014 when he finished 4th in the Formula One World Championship.

Career

Junior formulae

Born in Nastola, Finland, Bottas finished eighth in the 2005 Karting World Cup for the P.D.B. Racing Team, using Gillard chassis and Parilla engines.

Bottas competing at the second round of the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series at Hockenheim.

Bottas won both the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2008 Formula Renault Northern European Cup. In doing so, he repeated the feat of Filipe Albuquerque, who won both the NEC and Eurocup in the same season, in 2006.

Bottas would have also won the 2007 Formula Renault UK Winter Series, had he been holding an MSA-registered licence for the championship. This did however not stop him from competing, and he won three out of the four races in the championship.

Formula Three

He moved up into the Formula Three Euroseries for the 2009 season, competing for reigning champions ART Grand Prix. Despite not winning a race, Bottas set two pole positions on his way to third in the championship, edging out Alexander Sims at the final race. In June 2009, Bottas won the 2009 Masters of Formula 3, also claiming the pole position and setting the fastest lap of the race. By winning the event again in 2010, he became the first driver to win the F3 Masters title for the second time.^[2]

In 2010 Bottas was assigned test driver for the Williams Formula One team^[3] and would continue as such for the 2011 and 2012 (where he took part in 15 Friday Free Practice sessions)^[4] seasons, during which he also contested the GP3 Series, remaining with F3 squad ART.^[5] After a tough start to the season, he claimed a win in each of the last four race weekends and secured the title by winning the penultimate race ahead of his team-mate James Calado.^[6]

Formula One

2013

Bottas during practice at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Bottas returned to racing in 2013, as he was confirmed as teammate to Pastor Maldonado at Williams for the 2013 season on 28 November 2012.^[7] On 8 June 2013, Bottas qualified in 3rd position at the Canadian Grand Prix behind Sebastian Vettel (1st), and Lewis Hamilton (2nd).^[8] He scored his first points finish at the United States Grand Prix by finishing 8th. This result allowed Bottas to finish ahead of Maldonado in the Drivers' Championship.

2014

Bottas at the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix

On 11 November 2013 Bottas was confirmed to continue with Williams in 2014 alongside Felipe Massa, who was signed from Ferrari to replace Pastor Maldonado.^[9] At the first race of the 2014 season in Australia, Bottas qualified 10th and finished 6th, after recovering from a crash earlier in the race. He was later promoted to 5th after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from 2nd position.^[10] At the Austrian Grand Prix, Bottas qualified 2nd, his best grid position in Formula One, and achieved his first podium in the sport, finishing third behind Nico Rosberg (1st) and Lewis Hamilton (2nd).^[11] Despite qualifying 14th on the grid at the British Grand Prix, Bottas charged through the field to finish second, following Rosberg's retirement from the race, thereby achieving his second consecutive career podium. At the German Grand Prix, he qualified second and ended the race in the same position despite a late challenge from Hamilton. After achieving three more podiums in Belgium, Russia (where he set his first fastest lap of a race) and Abu Dhabi (part of Williams' first double podium since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix), Bottas finished 4th overall in the championship, beating the likes of former world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

2015

Bottas at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

In September 2014, it was announced that Bottas and Massa would retain their drives with Williams for the 2015 season.^[12] At the opening race of the season in Australia, Bottas qualified sixth for the race, but injured his back during qualifying. He was taken to The Alfred Hospital for precautionary checks,^[13] where he was diagnosed with soft tissue damage to his lower back, and was not medically cleared to race.^[14] Both Bottas' and Williams' season didn't live up to their hopes. Williams lost out in the development war to Ferrari over the winter and slipped further behind Mercedes. Bottas achieved two podium finishes across the 2015 season. The first of which came at the Canadian Grand Prix when Kimi Räikönen's Ferrari experienced an engine mapping issue resulting in him spinning, leaving an easy podium opportunity for the Williams driver. The second podium of the season came in Mexico behind the Mercedes duo. Two races earlier, Bottas was on course to finish third in Russia before Räikkönen collided with him while trying overtake on the final lap of the race. Sergio Pérez was rewarded with the podium, while Räikkönen was penalised, dropping him to 8th and Bottas retired. Bottas finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship beating his experienced team mate Felipe Massa for the second consecutive year.^[15]

Year	Bottas' points	Team-mate's points	Team-mate
2013	4	1	Pastor Maldonado
2014	186	134	Felipe Massa
2015	136	121	Felipe Massa
2016	7*	22*	Felipe Massa

* Season still in progress.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2007	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC	Koiranen Bros. Motorsport	16	2	2	3	6	279	3rd
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series	AKA Cobra	4	3	0	1	4	0	NC†
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup	Motopark Academy	14	5	7	4	10	139	1st
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		14	12	13	12	12	365	1st
2009	Formula 3 Euro Series	ART Grand Prix	20	0	2	1	6	62	3rd
	British Formula 3 Championship		4	0	0	0	1	N/A	NC†
	Masters of Formula 3		1	1	1	1	1	N/A	1st
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
2010	Formula 3 Euro Series	ART Grand Prix	18	2	1	4	8	74	3rd
	Masters of Formula 3		1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
	Macau Grand Prix	Prema Powerteam	1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
	Formula One	AT&T Williams	Test driver
2011	GP3 Series	Lotus ART	16	4	1	3	7	62	1st
	British Formula 3 Championship	Double R	3	1	0	1	1	17	17th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Formula One	AT&T Williams	Test driver
2012	Formula One	Williams F1 Team	Test driver
2013	Formula One	Williams F1 Team	19	0	0	0	0	4	17th
2014	Formula One	Williams Martini Racing	19	0	0	1	6	186	4th
2015	Formula One	Williams Martini Racing	19	0	0	0	2	136	5th
2016	Formula One	Williams Martini Racing	4	0	0	0	0	19*	9th*

* Season still in progress.
† – As Bottas was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2009	ART Grand Prix	Dallara F308/009	Mercedes	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 16	LAU 1 2	LAU 2 13	NOR 1 12	NOR 2 Ret	ZAN 1 2	ZAN 2 6	OSC 1 2	OSC 2 8	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 4	BRH 1 2	BRH 2 15	CAT 1 4	CAT 2 6	DIJ 1 16	DIJ 2 Ret	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 5	3rd	62
2010	ART Grand Prix	Dallara F308/026	Mercedes	LEC 1 9	LEC 2 6	HOC 1 3	HOC 2 5	VAL 1 2	VAL 2 4	NOR 1 3	NOR 2 1	NÜR 1 6	NÜR 2 7	ZAN 1 2	ZAN 2 Ret	BRH 1 4	BRH 2 4	OSC 1 1	OSC 2 11†	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 3			3rd	74

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2011	Lotus ART	TUR FEA 4	TUR SPR 8	ESP FEA 10	ESP SPR 7	VAL FEA 7	VAL SPR 3	GBR FEA 15	GBR SPR 12	GER FEA 3	GER SPR 1	HUN FEA 1	HUN SPR 2	BEL FEA 1	BEL SPR 19	ITA FEA 1	ITA SPR 17	1st	62

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	WDC	Points
2012	Williams F1 Team	Williams FW34	Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL TD	CHN TD	BHR TD	ESP TD	MON	CAN	EUR TD	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	BEL TD	ITA TD	SIN	JPN TD	KOR TD	IND TD	ABU TD	USA	BRA TD		–	–
2013	Williams F1 Team	Williams FW35	Renault RS27-2013 2.4 V8	AUS 14	MAL 11	CHN 13	BHR 14	ESP 16	MON 12	CAN 14	GBR 12	GER 16	HUN Ret	BEL 15	ITA 15	SIN 13	KOR 12	JPN 17	IND 16	ABU 15	USA 8	BRA Ret			17th	4
2014	Williams Martini Racing	Williams FW36	Mercedes PU106A Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS 5	MAL 8	BHR 8	CHN 7	ESP 5	MON Ret	CAN 7	AUT 3	GBR 2	GER 2	HUN 8	BEL 3	ITA 4	SIN 11	JPN 6	RUS 3	USA 5	BRA 10	ABU 3			4th	186
2015	Williams Martini Racing	Williams FW37	Mercedes PU106B Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS DNS	MAL 5	CHN 6	BHR 4	ESP 4	MON 14	CAN 3	AUT 5	GBR 5	HUN 13	BEL 9	ITA 4	SIN 5	JPN 5	RUS 12^†	USA Ret	MEX 3	BRA 5	ABU 13			5th	136
2016	Williams Martini Racing	Williams FW38	Mercedes PU106C Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS 8	BHR 9	CHN 10	RUS 4	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	AUT	GBR	HUN	GER	BEL	ITA	SIN	MAL	JPN	USA	MEX	BRA	ABU	9th*	19*

* Season still in progress.
^† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

References

1. "Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas staying at Williams for 2016 season". 3 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
2. "Bottas makes history at Zandvoort Masters". Motorsport.com. 6 June 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
3. Beer, Matt (29 January 2010). "Williams signs Bottas as test driver". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 29 January 2010.
4. "Pastor Maldonado Confirmed for 2012 with Valtteri Bottas as Reserve Driver". WilliamsF1. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
5. "Bottas lands Lotus ART seat for 2011". MotorsTV.com. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
6. "Champion win for Bottas in Monza". GP3 Series. 10 September 2011. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011.
7. Elizalde, Pablo (28 November 2012). "Williams confirms Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado for 2013". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 28 November 2012.
8. Beer, Matt (8 June 2013). "Canadian GP: Vettel claims pole in rain-hit session". Autosport.com (Haymarket). Retrieved 8 June 2013.
9. Benson, Andrew (11 November 2013). "Felipe Massa joins Williams for 2014 to replace Pastor Maldonado". bbc.co.uk (BBC). Retrieved 11 November 2013.
10. Weaver, Paul (16 March 2014). "Daniel Ricciardo disqualified from Australia GP". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). Retrieved 16 March 2014.
11. "Valtteri Bottas claims first ever podium finish in Austria". 22 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
12. Benson, Andrew (7 September 2014). "Felipe Massa & Valtteri Bottas to stay at Williams". BBC Sport (BBC). Retrieved 15 March 2015.
13. "Valtteri Bottas in hospital with back pain after F1 qualification". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 14 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
14. "Bottas declared unfit to race in Australian GP". Williams Grand Prix Engineering (Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited). 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
15. "2015 Driver Standings". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

External links

• Official website
• ESPN Profile
• Valtteri Bottas on Twitter