Valtteri Bottas is heading toward the twilight of his F1 career and may not realistically win a championship. Still, when he was asked in an interview about who is the most underrated driver of all time, the Finn nonchalantly replied himself.
Bottas said, “Most underrated driver of all time is probably myself”. Since the former Mercedes driver is a 10-time Grand Prix winner, he has some substantial backing to this claim.
Hear me out but Red Bull should’ve done a swap deal for Bottas
Proven 2nd driver ✅
Follows team orders ✅
Never missed Q3 for Mercedes ✅
Shows up occasionally to take pole positions and wins ✅ pic.twitter.com/HJLInEhdvl— Fifth Gear (@NotFifthGear) July 30, 2024
Bottas drove for Mercedes for five years and was a very reliable and consistent driver. He consistently got poles, and podiums, and competed for race wins despite having seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton as his teammate.
In fact, the Finn is an excellent qualifier and has 20 pole positions to his name. This is quite the feat being Hamilton’s teammate since the British driver is a fantastic qualifier himself.
Bottas often beat Hamilton on one-lap pace and even challenged him regularly for wins. However, the #77 driver could not get the better of him over a season. Regardless, Hamilton rated Bottas very highly as his teammate.
The Finn often played the team game by helping Hamilton out in his championship bid. That is why, the seven-time champion liked Bottas so much.
They formed a pairing with a good understanding and never had a major fallout despite several team order swaps for the team’s benefit. With Bottas as Hamilton’s teammate, Mercedes won all five of the constructors’ championships from 2017 to 2021.
Valtteri Bottas has also revealed that Mercedes gave him his first race winning car from Sochi 2017 as a leaving present at the end of 2021 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZzX01Cd9sa
— Crash.net – Formula 1 (@CRASH_NET_F1) January 28, 2022
However, with George Russell in the wings to take the step up, Bottas knew his time at the Silver Arrows was done. In 2021, the Finn was tapering off on form, as Mercedes struggled a bit in their title battle with Red Bull. This paved the way for Russell to replace him in 2022.
Meanwhile, Bottas secured a multi-year deal with Alfa Romeo (now Sauber). Despite having had a decent spell at Sauber so far, the 34-year-old has not yet received a contract extension with the team. With his contract set to expire at the end of 2024, he may need to look for a new team.
