“Whole career gone pretty much like a knife in the throat”– Valtteri Bottas would have stayed in Mercedes if offered multi-year deal

“Whole career gone pretty much like a knife in the throat”– Valtteri Bottas claims a multi-year deal was enough to keep him in Mercedes.

Almost five years have gone by with Valtteri Bottas in Mercedes, but his time with them was on the line every year, as he was only on single-year contracts, which made his future uncertain and only focused on his survival.

The Finn International also attributes this reason for his lack of championship title in his achievements. Bottas emphasised getting a multi-year deal in his negotiations with all the interested parties this year, and Alfa Romeo gave him that.

“Of course, this is still the end of this season, but today you can feel a little bit about this thing and what a nice future it will bring when it comes,” Bottas told MTV Sport (translated with Google).

Talking about his exit from Mercedes, he confesses that he would’ve definitely stayed if Mercedes have given him a multi-year contract, as it was exhausting to live with “a knife on the throat” all the time.

“Yes, it was really important to me. Here’s the whole career gone pretty much like a knife in the throat, always really a year at a time only. It’s good to have a project that you can really focus on in the longer term.”

“No need to stress about your own driving position and future for at least a few years. Able to focus on the issue and press the dune,” he added.

A multi-year deal from 2022 onwards was a far distant demand by Bottas, as Mercedes clearly hinted that they would be bringing George Russell into the fold, seeing the team’s future.

Alfa Romeo has a lot of potential

Bottas previews a good stint with Alfa Romeo, as he knows a lot of people working there. Additionally, next year’s regulations will bring the differences between the team closer, giving a golden opportunity to Alfa Romeo.

“I see a lot of potential in Alfa and its future. I know a few guys from there, especially team leader Fred (Vasseur). I drove on his team in F3 and GP3 for three years.”

“What I’ve heard from that side of the team, so I fully trust that now is really an opportunity to make a good leap in performance going forward and also in the years to come.”

“It’s interesting that everything is open. May indeed the pack mix pretty well. In theory, the performance of all teams should be pretty close to each other. There should be no big differences.”

“It already brings such positivity to everything. When I’ve seen and heard why the stable should make a good leap forward, yes, I think it’s possible – with hard work, of course.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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