Valtteri Bottas was born on 28 August 1989 in Nastola, Finland. A winner of the 2011 GP3 Series Championship, he made his Formula 1 debut in 2013 with the Williams team and achieved his first podium finish the following year.
Following the unexpected departure of Nico Rosberg five days after winning the world title, Bottas was recruited by Mercedes Grand Prix to team up with Lewis Hamilton in 2017. It was with the German firm that he scored the first victory of his career on his 81st start in Formula 1, at the finish of the Russian Grand Prix. The following year, while his teammate won 11 races, he did not win a single Grand Prix. However, he went on to win again at the start of his third season with Mercedes, in the first race of the 2019 championship in Melbourne.
I always look forward to the future, and there will be opportunities. But in this discipline, there won’t be millions. I know I’m not going to have fifteen seasons with Lewis to try and beat him. I know that I really have to try to do it in 2021.
He has claimed four independent victories, as well as nine doubles with his team-mate in 2019, seeing him finish as vice-world champion. Driving for a fourth season alongside Hamilton in the 2020 championship, in August renewed his contract with Mercedes for the following year, in 2021.
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He has won seven Grand Prix titles and competed in 139 F1 races. Prior to his racing career, Bottas served in the army as Lance corporal, a mandatory service in Finland.
