“Mentally it was tough,” Valtteri Bottas reveals that he almost quit Mercedes a few years ago
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Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas has not had the best start to the 2021 season, as he currently stands third in the championship, behind the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The Finnish driver had earlier revealed that he almost quit Mercedes in 2018, after he was ordered by the team to let Lewis Hamilton pass through.
Valtteri Bottas suffered another tragedy at the Azerbaijan GP, where he suffered a puncture in the last few laps of the race. Bottas was forced to retire from the race, despite being P1 at that moment.
“It started with some setbacks, then it kind of got even worse towards the end of the year,” said Bottas during the GP Racing interview. “I remember the end of the year being really tough to deal with. Obviously, week after week when things don’t go right and you get beaten, you have a bit of bad luck as well, and not having a single race win the whole season,” he added.
“I could see it was really affecting me, that I wasn’t driving at my best anymore. And, you know, confidence goes down, enjoyment of the sport disappears,” he added.
Valtteri Bottas reveals what inspired him to stay at Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas revealed that he went through a very stressful period with Mercedes in 2018, which was mentally exhausting. He almost thought of quitting Mercedes, but a resurgence to form in 2019 stopped him from doing so.
Valtteri Bottas won the Australian GP 2019, which motivated him to stay at Silver Arrows. “I managed to survive until the end [of the season]. I still tried to give it all I had every weekend, but once the season was over I was really tired. Physically, yes, but mentally it was tough,” Bottas said.
“All the way until early January I was thinking ‘should I call the team and say okay, that’s me, job done,’ But then it was like a switch I found,” he continued. Basically, f**k it, I’m not gonna give up. I had to see the big picture, that if I quit now I would regret it all my life,” he added.
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Nirmit Mehta
(2425 Articles Published)