Valtteri Bottas had only one goal in mind as an aspiring racing driver and that was to compete in Formula 1. However, in a recent chat with former F1 Mechanic Marc Priestley, the #77 driver revealed his backup career option if his ‘all in’ plan to get to the pinnacle of motor racing had failed.
Bottas told Priestley, on the latter’s Pitlane Life Lessons podcast, “I studied to be a car mechanic. That was kind of my backup option. At least I had studied for something and I [was] qualified for the job, you know. But like you said, I was always all in.”
If there is anything that Checo has taught me, is that Valtteri Bottas is SO underrated:
• Competed with prime Lewis Hamilton
• Won 10 Grand Prix’s, and delivered when Mercedes needed him most
• In his entire time at Merc, he NEVER missed Q3 pic.twitter.com/q8KmUt2All— Formula God (@formula1god) July 29, 2024
In the end, the #77 driver did not have to resort to his backup plan. In 2010, Williams signed Bottas as their test driver. Three years later, he made his F1 debut with the Grove-based team.
After Nico Rosberg retired in 2016, Mercedes signed Bottas for the 2017 campaign and beyond. With the Silver Arrows, he won a total of 10 races and finished runner-up in the championship in both 2019 and 2020.
With more than 200 starts under his belt, the 34-year-old is one of the most highly-rated drivers in the sport. Despite this, Bottas is currently still awaiting a decision on his F1 future, with Sauber having not provided him any sort of update about whether they are keen on extending his contract or not.
Where will Bottas drive next year?
As things stand, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Bottas’ F1 career with Sauber set to be rebranded as a works Audi team from 2026 onwards. The German automobile giants have already announced the signing of Nico Hulkenberg for 2025.
But no announcement has been made with respect to the second seat on the Hinwil-based team. Amid rising speculation, the #77 driver even demanded respect from his current team.
He did concede, however, that he has an option to stay for 2025. But with Audi yet to make their minds up, Bottas’ long-term future in the sport is still undecided.
Valtteri Bottas has just posted an Audi with #77 on the side, on his Instagram story is that a hint or am I a conspiracy theorist #F1 pic.twitter.com/pYr9A7pTec
— Sam Sage (@samuelsagef1) August 13, 2024
The 2025 driver’s lineup is starting to get finalized. Beyond Sauber, the Finnish racing ace does not seem to have any other concrete options to extend his stay in Formula 1. But that could all change with how next year’s dynamics develop.
