You could forgive Valtteri Bottas for crying enough and gracefully bowing out of Formula 1. The 35-year-old has competed at the top level for 12 seasons, experienced the highs and lows of life in a leading team during five years at Mercedes, and achieved more than the vast majority of drivers, with 10 grand prix wins. Yet amid what he admits is “the worst season” of his career in terms of results in the back-of-the grid Sauber, his enthusiasm has not faded even while his prospects for 2025 dwindled to re-signing for his current team or face F1 oblivion. The obvious question for the Finn is: why are you still going?

“I want to have success again, especially after a difficult year. I’m driving well”

“Because it’s the number one thing in my life,” Bottas fires back, unhesitatingly. “Racing is still by far the most interesting thing in my life and the motivation now is to get back to the top because I miss the feeling of fighting towards the front. I want to have success again, especially after a difficult year. I’m driving well, have lots to give and that’s why I want to keep going. I love it.”

Bottas is renowned for being taciturn, boring even, in stark contrast to the wild-child reputation of compatriot Kimi Räikkönen. Bottas’s half-decade as understudy to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, where he toed the corporate line and only occasionally let the edginess that lies beneath slip through the cracks, was responsible for that. His infamous “to whom it may concern” message, followed by an expletive, over the radio after winning the 2019 Australian Grand Prix was a rare example of that, but since moving to Sauber he’s been free to be himself. If you’re not convinced then check out his Uber Carshare advert on YouTube, or the myriad videos where he shares advice for life, tries out Olympic sports and assorted other antics that have made him an unexpected social media hit.

He’s come to terms with the reality that winning the world championship almost certainly won’t happen (no active driver will ever entirely relinquish that dream, no matter how unlikely), and as a consequence has relaxed into himself a little more.

“Nothing was planned, in terms of branding, things have just happened,” he says when asked about the late-career emergence of ‘Brand Bottas’. “I’m definitely more laid-back, so it’s way more easy to show who I really am. I can have fun and not take some things too seriously, which is important. It’s a combination of many things: atmosphere; my life partner [professional road cyclist Tiffany Cromwell]; pressure. Some restrictions, like doing my own gin [Oath Gin] with my partner, I would not have been able to do at Mercedes because of my contract. So you can play with those, have a bit more fun.

“I am way more relaxed in terms of knowing who I am. People like to see that I’m actually a normal human being and can take the piss out of myself. Five years ago, I wouldn’t want to show it because people would think ‘he’s having fun and he’s distracted’ but now I don’t really care if some people think that way. I know that it’s not a distraction. You need to have some fun in life.”

Yet the fun side of life, Bottas’s business activities and his love of cycling sit behind his F1 activities in his priorities. It’s fair to say that his team has at times questioned whether he’s distracted by extracurricular matters, particularly last season, but this year his consistently strong performances have proved that’s not the case. In that regard, while it’s a new Bottas off-track, on it he’s still the same driver he’s always been.

Bottas even claims he’s driving better now even than he was during his Mercedes stint. That’s difficult to measure given the mess Sauber has been in, but his performances have been compelling in desperately unpromising circumstances.

“I’m having a good season,” says Bottas. “If you are spectating from afar, if you don’t know the details, it looks not great at all. But I feel really good in the car. It’s a shame we can’t see it in the results, but at least the people who know, know.”

These performances placed him on multiple shortlists for drives in 2025, albeit never as the top choice. But it’s revealing that had Williams not been able to land Carlos Sainz’s signature for next season, Bottas was the back-up option. Such status brings its own danger as someone who is everyone’s second or third choice risks falling from the driver merry-go-round, particularly in a year like this when Lewis Hamilton’s shock Ferrari deal sent it spinning faster and harder than anyone anticipated.

That Bottas has been in a degree of demand reflects the strengths he brings to a team. He’s adapted well to life down the grid, with his early races at Sauber – then running under the Alfa Romeo banner – particularly startling. As the team’s form dropped off, the points became rarer, but he’s remained determined.

“It’s tough to accept you’re not in the best car, that you’re not fighting for the world championship,” he says. “It’s all about the mindset. You have to be realistic about the performance we have and the target. My job is to make the most out of the car and the team, try and help things to get better. Before I joined, I had lots of time to reset but I still miss the feeling of knowing going into a weekend it’s a chance for a win. I hope that happens again.”

Sauber has drifted even further away from being a winning force during Bottas’s three seasons there. There was a point earlier this season when the relationship had soured, largely thanks to the frustrations at the lack of progress and the feeling that he and team-mate Zhou Guanyu were carrying the can for the poor results. Bottas felt he was part of a different project to the one he’d been sold on as, despite the Audi takeover that will lead to Sauber being rebranded in 2026, the progress has stuttered.

“Things changed a lot. When I started it was a three-year project”

“Things changed a lot because when I joined it was a three-year project,” says Bottas. “As we spoke with Fred [Vasseur, Sauber team principal until the end of 2022], we agreed on certain targets. Year one was good, especially the first part of the year, but Fred left and the whole idea of the project changed. Obviously, I don’t blame Fred because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to Ferrari and he is doing a great job. That changed my situation quite a bit.

“We got a new leadership in the team and that initial target we set with Fred, it just all started to fall to pieces. I was still trying to do the best I can in terms of development and everything, but things changed and I’ve been unlucky at the moment being in the slowest car on the grid. So it hasn’t gone as planned.”

Bottas’s view of the project altered. The departure of Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl and Audi’s Oliver Hoffmann from the project, with former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto coming in as chief operating officer and chief technical officer, has revitalised his belief in a team he at one stage seemed certain to turn his back on. He’s talked of Binotto recognising “there’s a big mountain to climb” and that “he’s taking action in terms of reshaping things, whether at the factory or the race team or the structure”. While his performances didn’t falter, his faltering confidence in the project had to be restored. “We needed change,” he says.

Bottas’s strengths remain the same as they ever were, notably the startling single-lap pace that allowed him to outqualify Hamilton, statistically F1’s greatest qualifier, a third of the time in the same machinery. His race performances can be more erratic given Bottas isn’t always the most adept either at adapting to changing conditions or in wheel-to-wheel combat, but he is still very capable on Sunday.

“I would agree,” he says when it’s put to him that he’s a better qualifier than racer. “I have always been consistent in qualifying and between me and Lewis, qualifying was closer than the racing. But I’ve learned a lot since in terms of the racing and racecraft, especially when I joined this team in the midfield and I had to re-learn certain skills of battling on track. So I have improved. Still I’d choose qualifying over the race, but I feel like I have improved a lot on that front.”

Historically, Bottas hasn’t been the most incisive in battle and he’s worked on improving his first laps. That’s yielded some results, notably a great move at the first corner of Bahrain last year laying the foundation for a superb eighth place, although the legacy of the early years in racing when he couldn’t afford to take damage is still there in the back of his mind. Despite the improvement, the approach that “some drivers would still take more of a risk to gain a place and risk losing a race than me” is hard-wired.

He’s also proved himself to be an unusually strong team player for a driver. It’s part of the psychological make-up meaning he was never likely to become a world champion, but it’s a characteristic that can serve a team in Sauber’s position well.

“Some drivers are dominant in that they need to be number one, they need to kill their team-mate in each session, every race,” says Bottas. “But I can work with anyone. You need that harmony and that good atmosphere to aim for long-term improvements. I’ve really enjoyed my role with the team, especially in the first year with [rookie] Zhou. I’m a racer, so I always want to finish ahead but I also do what a team-mate needs to do. Hopefully, some people see the value in that.”

He concedes that it’s easier to fulfil his own potential in such a scenario, particularly compared to a situation where he was up against Hamilton. There’s no doubting the seven-time world champion has that ruthless competitive edge, and Bottas accepts “that’s his way of doing things and it worked” but for him it was never a role he was comfortable in. The desire to win the world championship was there, but the edge wasn’t. Bottas offers something subtly different, no less determined but with a less individualistic approach.

“Every day when I wake up, it’s not long before I think about F1 and how I can do better,” he says. “Every time I’m at the factory, in the simulator, all I’m thinking about is how we can improve. Every time I’m in the car, I want to go faster, make the car faster and it’s the same after each race. Now I’m thinking how can I get closer to the top again because that’s what fuels me. Everything else is secondary. I would give up anything to get back to winning again.”

Quiet determination has underpinned Bottas’s success. It’s often overlooked that he came from a modest background by F1 standards. His was not an easy road to the top, making it against the odds.

“Every time I’m in the car I want to go faster and it’s the same after each race”

“It’s important to acknowledge that there’s a very small chance to get into this sport and the journey I’ve had since I started go-karting when I was six is crazy. It’s also crazy to think I’m in my 12th season in F1 as it feels like yesterday I started. I’ve got to appreciate that I’m fortunate to be here, especially not coming with any big money behind me. To get into F1 like that is hard.”

It’s even more difficult to have the success Bottas has had once you are there. He may have fallen short as a world championship contender, but so do most. While his top-team days are behind him, he’s still got plenty to offer in F1, even as the end of his grand prix career looms closer than he would like.