Bottas set for engine grid penalty for the Italian GP
In the wake of his power unit failure at Zandvoort last weekend, Valtteri Bottas is expected to get a grid penalty for the third time in six races at the Italian GP.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas raises €50k for charity from viral bum photo
“I don’t quite get it,” Valtteri Bottas said of the “strange” success of a photo he posted on social media exposing his bum that helped earn €50,000 for charity.
Valtteri Bottas surprised by Mercedes struggles at Imola
Valtteri Bottas acknowledged his amazement at his previous team’s troubles in 2022 after finishing second to Mercedes’ George Russell and well above Lewis Hamilton at Imola.
Valtteri Bottas retired from Saudi Arabian GP race to save the engine
Alfa Romeo decided to retire Valtteri Bottas’ C42 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race in the hopes of avoiding a late-season engine penalty.
Bottas lost a lot of money after Hamilton’s title loss
Valtteri Bottas confesses that Lewis Hamilton’s world 2021 drivers championship loss cost him a lot of money.
Valtteri Bottas to race in the 2022 Arctic Rally
Valtteri Bottas has confirmed that he will race in the Arctic Rally for the fourth year in a row.
Supporting role at Mercedes affected Bottas mentally
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has opened up about the mental damage he took when he was forced to help Lewis Hamilton for the first time at Mercedes. Despite exhibiting flashes of brilliance, Bottas was never able to beat Hamilton throughout the course of a season, and was frequently forced to settle for second best. “I would say overall, yes,” The finn said in an end-of-season interview when asked if he felt he was treated properly during his time at Mercedes. “Especially always in the beginnings of the season until the halfway point for sure… very fairly. “If there was a points gap, then naturally people and the team started to think it’s most likely going to be this driver who’s going to fight for the championship and not this one,” Bottas added. “I think just unconsciously, it can change the behaviour of some people and decision making, et cetera.” The first blow to Bottas’ psyche came during his second season with the team, specifically at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, when he was requested to give up a win to help Hamilton win the championship. “There’s been also very clear cases that I’ve been in a support role, and I would say, the first time when that happened, probably 2018, it was really hard to accept,” added Bottas. “It was pretty tough. “That wasn’t good for me mentally, the space I was in mentally. As time goes on, you accept it, if that’s the situation, that you’re behind in the points.” Bottas was asked if he is looking forward to being a team leader at Alfa Romeo. “Absolutely. It’s one of the big reasons why [I made] this change, and I think I’m going to enjoy it.” “I’m definitely ready to take big responsibility. It’s going to be crazy to think it’s my 10th season in Formula 1 [this year] so I’m sure I can put into good use everything I’ve learned with Mercedes and Williams over there [with Alfa].”
Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou make their debut with Alfa Romeo in Abu Dhabi Post Season Test
After completing the 2021 Formula Season with Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas was back on the track with his new team Alfa Romeo. This comes after Alfa Romeo announced their all new 2022 driver line-up back in November. Partnering Bottas for the 18 inch Pirelli tyre Post Season Test was Guanyu Zhou who made a debut in Formula 1 after racing for Uni Virtuosi in Formula 2. Zhou was the runner up in Formula 2 Championship after Oscar Piastri claimed the F2 title. The two Alfa Romeo drivers set out to the track at Yas Marina with Bottas sporting 18 inch Pirelli tyres which are set for 2022. Zhou on the other hand, got to experience the Alfa Romeo 2021 car after getting acquainted with the Swiss team. However, Bottas was running on a mule car which Zhou will switch to on Wednesday for Pirelli tyre test.
Bottas had a different car from Hamilton in Qatar GP
Valtteri Bottas has revealed he had a different spec W12 compared to Lewis Hamilton in Qatar, but couldn’t go in further details. The departing Mercedes driver topped two of three practice sessions at the Losail International Circuit and qualified third for Sunday’s race, but the weekend started to unravel quickly after that for the Finn. Slapped with a three-place grid drop for failing to respect yellow flags in qualifying, Bottas lost more valuable places at the start and, just eight laps in, was soon given the hurry-up by a less-than-impressed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. Bottas made slow but gradual progress back up the order, but a puncture just past the pit-lane entry and an eventual retirement from the race due to too much damage to his car compounded his misery. The Mercedes driver said he had no prior warning that he was risking a puncture, but did suggest elsewhere in his media rounds after the race that he had a different set-up compared to Hamilton. “I have found out the reason, but I cannot give details,” Bottas said. “But my car was no longer quite the same as it was, nor was it the same as Lewis’. “There were little differences in the cars.” Meanwhile, Wolff gave Bottas his vote of confidence after being quizzed about the Finn’s latest below-par performance. “We know that he can drive away when he’s at the front,” Wolff said. “So the speed is there. “I have absolute confidence in him for the next races and I hope that we will have a good car. Then Valtteri will be at the front again because we need him there. As for Bottas puncture, Wolff added to Sky Italia: “He’s very unlucky, because his start was very bad, then he recovered, he was P3 on track, and then there was this puncture. “If he had finished the race, we would have had a bit of a safety margin for the Constructors’ Championship, now it will be all decided at the end.”
Bottas gets a three-place grid penalty for yellow flags breach in Qatar
The Qatar stewards have announced that Valtteri Bottas will drop 3 places on the grid for today’s Qatar Grand Prix. Of the three drivers summoned by the stewards post-qualifying, the Finn was the last to be seen, however his was the first ‘verdict’ to be announced. Having reviewed video, telemetry and the marshalling system evidence, the stewards head that Bottas admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at Flag Point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that Pierre Gasly was stationary on the pit straight. Deeming the failure to respect the single yellow flag a breach of Appendix H, Art. 2.5.5.b) of the FIA International Sporting Code and noncompliance with Race Director’s Event Notes 7.2, the stewards deem that Bottas drops of 3 grid positions and is handed 1 penalty point, bringing his 12 month total to 5. Bottas was shown a single waved yellow flag as he approached the start/finish line at the end of his final flying lap in Q3, due to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri which was stopped beside the pit wall. The stewards said the Mercedes driver “admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at flag point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that car 10 [Gasly] was stationary on the pit straight,” the stewards noted. The penalties for Verstappen and Bottas will promote Gasly, who originally qualified fourth, to the front row of the grid for today’s race.
Bottas and Sainz also summoned by stewards after Qatar qualifying
Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz have also been summoned to the stewards after qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix over alleged yellow flag infringements. This comes after Verstappen was summoned for the same issue. Verstappen qualified P2 in today’s session with a lap time of 1:21.282. However, it appears that the Dutchman kept driving through the final sector of the circuit whilst double-waved yellow flags were shown. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified fourth today, but he ended up with a puncture in his front right tyre after going over some curbs whilst going through the penultimate corner. Verstappen improved on his first lap of Q3 by a tenth of a second, which has raised suspicion as to whether or not he eased off the throttle. As a result, Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for a potential infringement, but he will not be going to see them until 13:00 local time tomorrow on race day. Valtteri Bottas, who took third on your grid, is also under investigation. This was for an incident involving singled waved yellow flags. Carlos Sainz, who took seventh, is under investigation for the same thing. After Verstappen at 13:00 local time, Bottas will meet with the stewards tomorrow at 13:30, and Sainz will follow at 13:45. Speaking about this situation, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel believes that the yellow flag was cancelled at the end of the third qualifying session “because Max was coming”. Vettel was also affected by the flags but is “pretty happy” as he managed to out-qualify Perez, Leclerc, and Ricciardo. He has said that: “I had the yellow flag in the last sector and then the yellow flag cleared, I guess, because Max was coming.” Double yellow flags mean that drivers should ‘abort the lap’ as a car is on the track, which Vettel did but he believes he could have been “the only one”. The flags were there for everyone’s safety and it was clearly shown that debris came off of Gasly’s car when the puncture was obtained. No more has been said at this time as to the outcome of this alleged infringement, so Verstappen and fans will have to wait to find out if a grid penalty will be given to the driver for Qatar Grand Prix race.
Valtteri Bottas tops Qatar GP FP2 as Red Bull experience rear wing issues
Rear wing talk continues to dominate discussion at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, with Red Bull suffering from oscillation issues in second practice. While Mercedes replaced Red Bull at the top of timesheet with Valtteri Bottas quickest of anyone in FP2 – setting a 1:23.148, two tenths clear of Pierre Gasly who was a surprise P2 – the main focus was once again on wings as Red Bull’s upper flap on the rear was blighted by severe oscillation. The Red Bull mechanics spent time addressing the issue on both cars throughout the second session, Verstappen finishing the day in P3 three tenths off the pace set by Bottas. Title rival Lewis Hamilton, in P4, was four tenths slower than his team-mate. As darkness descended on the Losail International Circuit and temperatures cooled, the FP2 session offered the drivers and teams much more representative conditions of what they can expect once the lights go out on Sunday. Just 19 drivers would be able to get the vital track experience they needed as Haas’ Nikita Mazepin sat out the session because of an unscheduled chassis change. Visbility was proving to be a slight issue for some drivers as their eyes adjusted to the dazzling floodlights beaming down on the dark tarmac. Sergio Perez needed to come back into the garage to replace the visor on his helmet. After the opening stints, it was Mercedes who were top of the pile as Bottas held a two-tenth gap over team-mate Hamilton. The latter almost got in Bottas’ way in the early stages but, thankfully for them, they managed to avoid an embarrassing collision between them. Bottas then returned to the track and pumped in a 1:23.154, but that lap was deleted for clearly exceeding track limits at Turn 7. At Red Bull, their focus was on rear wings, but their own on this occasion, as there was an issue with the DRS on Verstappen’s car which was soon fixed…or so we thought. Back on track, Verstappen’s team-mate Perez was starting a flying lap, but soon backed out due to traffic problems in sector two. Verstappen found a quieter moment to throw down his first qualifying sim run, yet found himself two tenths down in the first sector. That gap extended to four tenths by the time he crossed the line, but there was a suspicion that his car was carrying a slightly heavier fuel load compared to others. There was also a firm eye staying fixed on Red Bull’s rear wing, which was still misbehaving with the upper flap oscillating when the DRS was open. The problem kept Perez in the garage for much longer than he would have liked. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s former team-mate Pierre Gasly found himself sandwiched in between the two Mercedes drivers after an eye-catching lap on the softs. Verstappen re-emerged for another crack at dislodging Bottas, but again was no match for the Mercedes through the first sector. He did find improvement, but only by a tenth. Work to do, it appears, for Red Bull ahead of qualifying day on Saturday. 2021 F1 QATAR GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.148s 2 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.357s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m23.498s 4 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.570s 5 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m23.632s 6 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m23.705s 7 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.735s 8 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m23.787s 9 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m24.020s 10 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.033s 11 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m24.041s 12 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m24.056s 13 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.095s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m24.135s 15 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m24.631s 16 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m24.954s 17 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m25.072s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m25.290s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m25.575s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team No Time Set