Bottas recounts his rebound from a career-low to his best F1 season, detailing the challenges and triumphs.
Valtteri Bottas disclosed that his 2018 season was his most challenging in Formula One while driving for Mercedes F1. After a year in which he did not achieve what he had hoped, the current Stake driver fortunately bounced back in 2019, though not without considering an exit from the sport at the end of 2018.
“There were many lessons in this sport,” Bottas stated. “I’ve been through so much. I went through a phase where I almost ended my career because I was fed up with the world of F1 and thought it was being cruel to me.”
“It was at the end of 2018. Somehow, I managed to pick myself up and win the first race of 2019. That was a turning point for me. I had probably had my toughest year with Mercedes the year before, so I had quite a bit of frustration in me.”
“In 2018, I was not able to win a single race. I did have several podiums and some good results, but the victories never came. I really wanted to make sure that wasn’t going to happen again. I wanted to, let’s say, come back with a big bang, and in the end, I felt that’s exactly what happened in 2019, which turned out to be my best year so far in F1.”
His victory at the start of the 2019 season in Melbourne was one of the best for him: “As a driver, as an athlete, you’re always looking for that state of flow, where you feel you control everything. Everything almost slows down, it feels easy, you have time to react, you have time to think, and the entire race unfolded like that.”
“I would say that sometimes you can experience that perfect feeling during qualifying, sometimes for an entire race, but yes, unfortunately, I would say it’s probably less than 20% of your qualifiers or races where you reach your absolute peak in terms of mental performance. It was an incredible feeling and it still gives me goosebumps. I truly felt it was my highlight so far, in terms of personal performance.”
However, the challenges have been beneficial for Bottas, who has learned to put the importance of things in life into perspective: “Ultimately, I’ve realized that sometimes you need to take time, step back, and look at the bigger picture, and that’s what I do now in life.”
“If there’s a slight setback somewhere, I try to step back and look at the situation as a whole. I have a family, they are healthy, I am still driving a race car that I love, and I have a roof over my head.”
“So in the end, when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, that’s when you can put things into perspective and start to complain less. Staying in the F1 bubble, for me, has been very important.”
Currently, the Finnish driver is desperately seeking a drive for 2025 as available seats diminish. Is this a clue? Bottas posted a message earlier this week on Instagram where he was trying out an Audi R8. There is no indication that this is a hint towards an extension, especially as the Hyland brand was involved in this operation.
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Bottas’ Remarkable F1 Revival Follows Career Low Bottas’ Remarkable F1 Revival Follows Career Low
