Valtteri Bottas revealed that he had a hard time at Mercedes for not being able to match Lewis Hamilton, and therefore he even thought about quitting Formula One
With 10 Formula 1 seasons under his belt, Valtteri Bottas has accepted the challenge of joining the Alfa Romeo team in 2022. But if it had been up to him a few years ago, he would have retired from the world's biggest motor racing category. And the 'almost' decision came from his years still at Mercedes, when the Finn considered ending his career after mental difficulties for being defeated by Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas, who arrived at the team in 2017, has clocked up 10 wins, 20 pole-positions, and 58 podiums with the Germans. But the disparity to his then-teammate's performance made him consider quitting racing - a decision that was reversed almost in the 45th minute.
"At the end of 2018 I almost stopped. Just for the fact that I couldn't understand and accept that I couldn't beat Lewis in those two years," he revealed in an interview with Motor Sport Magazine's My Big Break podcast. "I put a lot of pressure on myself. At the end of 2018, especially when I started to have the role of second driver in the team, I really couldn't take it, I really struggled. It wasn't fun. The last four or five races of 2018 were very painful. You should enjoy F1, it's very cool, but it was nothing like that," he followed.
"I decided to take a break in South America somewhere and tried not to think about F1 and try to find the drive and the joy for the sport and the motivation. I found it - it was like a click at one point. But it was after the new year, probably mid-January or something, that I decided, 'Okay, let's do this, I can still do this.' Then I was able to pull myself together and found the joy of driving again," he added.
In 2018, Valtteri finished the championship in fifth position in the Drivers' World Championship, winless and in a strong year for Hamilton. Having found the strength to continue in F1, he sees that 2019 was rewarding, as he finished as runner-up, with wins and championship leader for much of the season.
"Immediately the results were much better than in 2018. In fact, I think the following year, in 2019, was probably my best season so far, especially against Lewis - I won some races and until halfway through the season I was sometimes leading the championship, so it was a very strong year. But I couldn't match Lewis' consistency and overall performance throughout the season," he explained.
"The human mind is strange in a way. Sometimes you get into dark places and you lose the joy of things.I completely lost the joy of F1 and racing in F1.I was almost angry in F1, it's weird.I just needed some time off.I thought about things in a general way and then I realized that it's actually a very cool sport and I still have great opportunities ahead of me, so it would be silly not to take them," he closed.
Now, in the Hinwil squad, Bottas has different challenges, goals, and results. Even so, he has already obtained good points in the season: he is in eighth position in the championship, with 46 points. The next round of F1 2022 is the British GP at Silverstone on July 1-3.