Valtteri Bottas (born August 28, 1989 in Nastola, Finland) is a Formula One driver for the Williams-Renault team. Having tested with the team since 2010, Bottas was promoted to a race seat for 2013. For the 2015 season, Bottas retains his race seat at Williams, partnered by Felipe Massa. His first podium came in the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix. He went on to finish 4th in the Drivers' Championship in 2014.
His permanent career number is 77.
Career
Before Formula One
In 2008, Bottas won both the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup. He then advanced to Formula Three in 2009, but was unable to win any races. He was able to set two pole positions though. He won the 2009 Masters of Formula 3 after setting the pole position and fastest lap. He repeated this win in 2010, becoming the first driver in history to win the Formula Three Masters title for two consecutive years.
In 2010, Bottas was called to Williams to fill a position as test driver. Although he would have this position for the 2010, 2011, 2012 seasons, he would also compete in and win the GP3 Series championship.
2013
After Bruno Senna left the sport at the end of the 2012 season, it was confirmed that Bottas would replace him on Williams for the 2013 season. He would race alongside Pastor Maldonado.
Bottas made his debut in Australia, qualifying for 16th on the grid. During the race, he lost a lap to the leaders and finished in 14th position, one position behind rookie Esteban Gutiérrez. He was not in a scoring position for that race and was the second highest ranked rookie in that race.
Valtteri Bottas practicing for the 2013 United States Grand Prix
At the next race in Malaysia, Bottas finished one position outside of the points. He was only 1.486 seconds behind Jean-Éric Vergne of Toro Rosso. This would be his fate for the next 15 races, finishing in the upper teens. He suffered his first career retirement in Hungary after he suffered a hydraulics failure.
He would later suffered another retirement after a collision in the final race of the season at Brazil, but not before he managed to score his first career points in the race prior. After a battle in the United States, Bottas finished 8th which earned him 4 points. These were his only career points in the 2013 season.
Bottas finished the season in 17th position for the World Drivers' Championship and it was confirmed that he would return to Williams for the next season.
2014
Formula One Statistical Overview
Formula One Record
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | AT&T Williams | Williams-Cosworth | Test Driver | ||
| 2011 | AT&T Williams | Williams-Cosworth | Test Driver | ||
| 2012 | Williams F1 Team | Williams-Renault | Test Driver | ||
| 2013 | Williams F1 Team | Williams-Renault | 4 | 17th | Report |
| 2014 | Williams Martini Racing | Williams-Mercedes | 186 | 4th | Report |
| 2015 | Williams Martini Racing | Williams-Mercedes | — | — | Report |
Career Statistics
Correct as of 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix Template:Statbox
Career Results
Template:Career Results/2015| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pts | Pos
Template:2012 Results/20 Template:2013 Results/20 Template:2014 Results/20 | |||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes
| V T E | 
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|---|---|---|---|
| Drivers 2.  Logan Sargeant · 23.  Alexander Albon
| |||
| Personnel Frank Williams · Patrick Head · Pat Symonds · Mike Coughlan | |||
World Champions Alan Jones (1980) ·  Keke Rosberg (1982) ·  Nelson Piquet (1987) ·  Nigel Mansell (1992) ·  Alain Prost (1993) · Damon Hill (1996) ·  Jacques Villeneuve (1997)
| |||
| Cars March 761 · FW06 · FW07 · FW07B · FW07C · FW07D · FW08 · FW08C · FW09 · FW09B · FW10 · FW10B · FW11 · FW11B · FW12 · FW12C · FW13 · FW13B · FW14 · FW14B · FW15C · FW16 · FW16B · FW17 · FW17B · FW18 · FW19 · FW20 · FW21 · FW22 · FW23 · FW24 · FW25 · FW26 · FW27 · FW28 · FW29 · FW30 · FW31 · FW32 · FW33 · FW34 · FW35 · FW36 · FW37 · FW38 · FW40 · FW41 · FW42 · FW43 · FW43B · FW44 | |||