“It was very tough to digest that”: Valtteri Bottas reveals the exact moment he realized his role at Mercedes would be that of a ‘supporting driver’

Valtteri Bottas realized that he was a ‘second driver’ at Mercedes when he was asked to give his lead to Lewis Hamilton in Russia in 2018. 

Bottas has been with the Brackley based since 2017. He joined from Williams and has had a decent spell, winning 10 races with the team. However, he never really challenged teammate Lewis Hamilton for the title. The British driver has won 4 titles during his time with Bottas as his teammate.

Earlier this year, Mercedes announced that the Finnish driver would be leaving them at the end of the year. He is set to join Alfa Romeo Racing for 2022. This is the first time Valtteri will be in a non-Mercedes powered car in his career since 2016.

In the recent episode of the ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast, Bottas spoke about his experience with the Silver Arrows. While he said he does not regret joining them, there have been moments that were very difficult for him.

Also read: Valtteri Bottas reveals the reason why chose to join Alfa Romeo instead of Williams for 2022

Everything changed for Valtteri Bottas after the 2018 Russian GP

The Finnish driver revealed his toughest moment in a Mercedes car in the podcast. The incident mentioned took place at the 2018 Russian GP where Bottas was asked to give up first position to his teammate who was in a Championship battle with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

The orders were issued to help with Hamilton’s title charge but it was a huge blow to Bottas who was set for a race win that afternoon.

“Yeah, it was tough.” he said. “You know, obviously, I made a decision, I did it. Although, it was like biting my own teeth together. Really didn’t feel natural and not right, because I’m a racer. But I did it for the team.

“But I also think, at that moment, I lost certain sense of. Everything just became a bit more tricky after that for the rest of the season.” he added. “Because I realized that, ‘OK, my role is now basically just helping’, and I couldn’t really digest that. And then I think I wasn’t in the right mindset for the rest of the year.”

Also read: George Russell fully focussed on his remaining time with Williams rather than thinking about next year’s Mercedes drive

The focus of the team shifted solely to Hamilton after a few races, says Bottas

The departing Mercedes driver shared his thoughts on teammate Lewis Hamilton and how he feels he did compared to him.

“The thing is, there were some seasons that I started pretty strong, then there was unlucky moments, or maybe I had a bad race or two,” he admitted.

“Lewis always kept performing in a really consistent way, all the time. And then, once there was a bit of a gap in the points, then obviously the focus starts to shift to the car that is most likely going to win the championship.”

“I would say the biggest difference between me and Lewis in recent years was that he’s always been able to perform at a high level. He rarely had bad weekends,” said Bottas.

“He obviously had some, but less than me. It is impressive how he can always be there, no matter what conditions, which track, what life situation, whatever. Once he gets in the car, he always delivers.” he concluded.

Valtteri Bottas is currently 3rd in the driver’s standings with 185 points to his name.