Valtteri Bottas talks about his struggles in Mercedes as the Finnish race driver who never had the absolute opportunity to shine.
Though Mercedes never declared that there was a pecking order in the lineup, it was evident that Valtteri Bottas was the deputy of Lewis Hamilton.
It never appeared that the Briton wouldn’t be favoured above the Finnish race driver. However, it is conceded that Hamilton is a miles better driver than Bottas, but the latter wanted more from his time at Mercedes, and the secondary role in the team frustrated him.
Now, Bottas has parted ways with Mercedes. The 32-year-old will be racing for Alfa Romeo in 2022. Looking back at his time with Mercedes, Bottas shares his struggles with the team.
“If you feel like you have a knife to your throat, your head isn’t doing very well,” said Bottas to ‘Talking about me’ podcast via rtl.de. Since 2017, Bottas has been running with Mercedes on one-year-long contracts.
However, in his talks with Toto Wolff last year, he specifically asked for a multi-year deal, which Wolff denied. Thus, in the end, the two sides decided to part ways.
Also read: F1 Twitter lashes out at Red Bull chief for his comments on Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas can understand Nico Rosberg now
Bottas mentions that he witnessed things between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg getting a bit ugly. At that time, he thought that the whole scenario was getting too political. However, now the 32-year-old understands what Rosberg was going through.
Driving into to the weekend in style 🍀#VB77 #AlfaRomeo @alfa_romeo @alfaromeoorlen @AlfaMuseums pic.twitter.com/pgQg57GEJR
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) February 4, 2022
“I remember Lewis and Nico arguing very hard with each other and it even got a bit political,” Bottas looks back. “But now I can identify with him. I can say from experience that it’s not easy.”
Bottas was eventually replaced by George Russell, making Mercedes an all Briton drivers’ lineup. Meanwhile, Bottas looks forward to his new stint with Alfa Romeo in 2022.
