Valtteri Bottas admits he was 'done', almost walked away from F1

Valtteri Bottas is back competing in Formula 1 this season, after it once seemed that his career was over for good.

Following the 2024 campaign, when he was replaced by Sauber amid a driver lineup overhaul which saw him and teammate Zhou Guanyu ousted in favor of veteran Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, his career prospects indeed looked bleak.

The organization had simply decided it was time to move in a new direction, as they began to look toward the full Audi takeover, which has since gone into effect for 2026 amid a new era of regulations.

It was not the first time that Bottas, whose 2025 season was his first out of F1 entirely since before he made his Grand Prix debut in 2013, had dealt with adversity and seemed like he didn't have a viable path forward in the sport.

Just three years earlier was his fifth year at Mercedes, serving in the unenviable role as the teammate to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

And for as nice as it might have seemed from the outside to be a top two contender week in and week out in a dominant Mercedes car, we all remember the famous "to whom it may concern..." quip.

Every year, there were rumors that his future was in doubt, and when he'd sign one-year deal after one-year deal, rather than a multi-year commitment, to remain on board with the Silver Arrows, the speculation ironically only grew louder.

After 2021, the 10-time Grand Prix winner, two-time world championship runner-up, 20-time polesitter, and 67-time podium finisher was indeed replaced by an up-and-coming youngster in George Russell, leading to the opportunity with Sauber (then Alfa Romeo) as the replacement for fellow Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen.

For Bottas, pushing forward was always a theme

But even decades before Formula 1 came into the picture for the Nastola native, there were challenges that might have deterred others from continuing to push toward their goals.

And when the goal is to be one of 20 drivers (22 now) competing at the sport's top level, everything still ultimately needed to find a way to align to make it even a remote possibility.

Bottas recently outlined his journey to Formula 1, which continues to this day as a member of Cadillac, the sport's 11th and newest team, from his days as a youngster. In those days, he wasn't even sure what go-karting was and felt discouraged when he tried it and couldn't reach the pedals.

"I don’t know if people are born to do something. But if they are, then I was born to race. "

Valtteri Bottas, "Born Crazy", TPT

He penned a detailed feature called "Born Crazy" on Minute Media's The Players' Tribune website. For those unfamiliar, TPT is "a sports media company that provides athletes with a platform to connect directly with their fans, in their own words", and it has featured all kinds of stories told by all kinds of athletes across all kinds of sports.

With Bottas himself going "absolutely crazy" with no Formula 1 for the past five weeks, due to the inevitable cancelations of the two Middle Eastern races in Bahrain and Jeddah, the fact that he had time to sit down and put together this piece is perhaps one of the break's silver linings.

Like many, Bottas' journey was not without its obstacles. In fact, it's almost impossible to reach Formula 1 without dealing with some level of outside doubt and roadblocks, roadblocks that can and often do seem too challenging to overcome.

And yet, after yet another setback, he's back on the grid in 2026, aiming to elevate a team that once faced its own major obstacles – and looked like it too may never even reach the "pinnacle of motorsport".

Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, he'll get to stick around for another "6, 7, or 8" years like he wants to. And maybe he'll get to do it by achieving what once seemed unachievable as a part of his newest venture with Cadillac.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow