Valtteri Bottas F1 Statistics and Results

Career by Team — Valtteri Bottas
Team	Races	Grand Prix Wins	Podiums	Points
mercedes	101	10	58	1,333
williams	78	0	9	411
alfa romeo	44	0	0	59
Cadillac	12	0	0	0
kick sauber	24	0	0	0

Valtteri Bottas – Biography, Career and Results

Quick facts

Full name	Valtteri Viktor Bottas
Date of birth	28 August 1989
Place of birth	Nastola, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Active motorsport career	2001–present (in single-seaters since 2007)

Who is Valtteri Bottas?

Valtteri Bottas is one of those Finnish drivers who learned how to keep a car balanced at the limit on the icy and gravel roads back home, and then put that skill to use at the highest level of international single-seater racing. By the time he sat in a Formula 1 car, he had already collected championship titles in karting, Formula Renault, Formula 3 and GP3, making him one of the most convincing junior résumés of the late 2000s.

His F1 career splits into two clearly distinct phases: his years at Williams, where he emerged as a frontline talent, and his time at Mercedes, where for years he fought for world championship podiums as Lewis Hamilton's teammate. He later continued at Alfa Romeo and then the team racing as Sauber, and after spending a season as a reserve driver at Mercedes, returned to the grid in 2026 as a driver for a brand-new manufacturer, Cadillac.

Bottas's career also makes for an interesting read because it shows how a driver who collected junior-category titles one after another can go on to become a test driver, then a frontline racer, and eventually an experienced hand who also takes on a team-building role at the helm of a squad still finding its feet.

Early years

Bottas started karting at the age of six, after spotting an advertisement for the sport in a local supermarket. In the years that followed, between 2001 and 2005, he raced in Finnish and international karting championships, gradually working his way up through the age categories. His best early result came in 2004, when he won the Finnish ICA Junior championship, and a year later he also proved himself at international level, finishing eighth at the CIK-FIA Formula A karting world championship held in Braga, Portugal.

Junior single-seater career

Bottas moved into single-seaters in 2007, and in the very next season, 2008, he pocketed two championship titles at once with Motopark: he won both the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) and the Eurocup – the latter by a margin of just three points over Daniel Ricciardo in the final standings.

In 2009 and 2010, driving for ART Grand Prix, he finished third in two consecutive seasons in the Formula 3 Euro Series. Even more notable than his points-standings position was that in both years he won the prestigious non-championship Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort – making him the first driver to win that race twice. In 2010 he also took championship race wins, for example at the Norisring and at Oschersleben.

In 2011, driving for the team now racing as Lotus ART, he lined up in the GP3 Series, and although he started the season slowly, he won four consecutive race weekends to close it out, clinching the championship title with a round to spare, at the Monza weekend, ahead of teammate James Calado. That same year he also made a one-off appearance in British Formula 3 with Robertson Räikkönen Racing, taking a win at Donington.

The road to Formula 1

His string of results in the junior categories quickly caught Williams' attention: the team signed him as its official test driver in January 2010. The role initially involved aerodynamic testing, and he also took part in the end-of-season young driver tests. By 2012 his responsibilities had grown, and he took the wheel of the Williams car in fifteen Friday free practice sessions, allowing him to prove himself to the team's engineers on live race weekends too.

The experience gained during his years as test driver and his performances in Friday practice ultimately earned him a race contract: from 2013, Bottas lined up as a Williams race driver, making his Formula 1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix alongside teammate Pastor Maldonado.

Formula 1 career

During his first four seasons at Williams, Bottas gradually established himself as the team's lead driver, and in 2014, one of the strongest years of his career, he finished fourth in the world championship. In 2017, following Nico Rosberg's retirement, he became a Mercedes driver, racing alongside Lewis Hamilton as his teammate for five seasons. This was the most successful period of his career: he finished runner-up in the world championship in both 2019 and 2020, and with his team celebrated five consecutive constructors' world championship titles between 2017 and 2021. He took his last Formula 1 race win in 2021, at the Turkish Grand Prix.

From 2022 he continued as a driver for Alfa Romeo, and, after the team's rebranding, for the squad racing as Kick Sauber, alongside teammate Zhou Guanyu. This period gradually became more difficult for him: while he still scored points regularly in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 – for the first time in his career – he finished the season without a single point. He and the team parted ways after the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, once Sauber chose Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as its drivers for 2025.

Bottas then returned for 2025 as a reserve driver to his former team, Mercedes, behind George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. That background role, however, proved only a temporary stop: in 2026 he returned to the grid as a driver for Cadillac, the American manufacturer freshly joining the Formula 1 field, alongside teammate Sergio Pérez, now as one of the leading, experienced drivers of a team being built from the ground up.

Racing alongside Formula 1

The density of the modern Formula 1 calendar leaves little room for racing in parallel series, yet Bottas has tried his hand elsewhere on several occasions. He has entered the Arctic Rally Finland, held on icy and snowy roads back home, in several winters, and in December 2019 he won the French ice race known as the Rallycircuit Côte d'Azur. In 2023 he also made his debut at the Race of Champions, where the world's best drivers test their skills against each other in different cars on a fixed circuit.

Notable results outside Formula 1

Year	Series / event	Team	Result
2005	CIK-FIA Formula A karting world championship (Braga)	–	8th place
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup	Motopark	Champion
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup	Motopark	Champion
2009	Formula 3 Euro Series	ART Grand Prix	3rd place
2009	Masters of Formula 3 (Zandvoort)	ART Grand Prix	Win
2010	Formula 3 Euro Series	ART Grand Prix	3rd place
2010	Masters of Formula 3 (Zandvoort)	ART Grand Prix	Win
2011	GP3 Series	Lotus ART	Champion
2011	British Formula 3 (guest entry, Donington)	Robertson Räikkönen Racing	Race win

Career timeline

2001 – Starts karting
2004 – Finnish ICA Junior championship title
2007 – Moves into single-seaters
2008 – Formula Renault 2.0 NEC and Eurocup champion with Motopark
2009–2010 – Two consecutive 3rd places in the Formula 3 Euro Series, two Masters of Formula 3 wins with ART Grand Prix
2010 – Becomes Williams' official test driver
2011 – GP3 Series champion with Lotus ART
2013 – Formula 1 debut with Williams
2014 – 4th in the world championship, one of his best seasons at Williams
2017 – Moves to Mercedes as Nico Rosberg's successor
2019–2020 – Two runner-up finishes in the world championship with Mercedes
2021 – Last Formula 1 race win, at the Turkish Grand Prix
2022 – Moves to Alfa Romeo
2024 – Parts ways with the Sauber team at the end of the season
2025 – Returns to Mercedes as reserve driver
2026 – Returns to Formula 1 as a race driver with the brand-new Cadillac team

Interesting facts about Valtteri Bottas's career

In 2008 he won both the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Northern European Cup in a single season, edging out Daniel Ricciardo – who would also go on to become a Formula 1 driver – by just three points in the former.
He is the only driver to have won the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort in two consecutive years, 2009 and 2010.
He won his 2011 GP3 title by reeling off four consecutive race-weekend wins after a shaky start, clinching the overall title with a round still to go.
Before making his race debut in 2013, he spent several years as Williams' official test driver, proving his ability across a wide range of roles, from aerodynamic testing to Friday free practice.
In 2026, after a season spent as a reserve driver, he returned to the grid as a race driver, this time with Cadillac, the American manufacturer freshly joining the Formula 1 field – one of the most unusual chapters of his career, as he became one of the leading drivers of a team built entirely from scratch.

Frequently asked questions about Valtteri Bottas's career

When did Valtteri Bottas start racing?

He started karting at the age of six, around 2001, after spotting an advertisement for the sport in a local supermarket, and moved into single-seaters in 2007.

What championships did Bottas win before Formula 1?

In 2008 he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Northern European Cup, in 2009 and 2010 he won the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race twice, and in 2011 he also claimed the GP3 Series championship title.

How did Bottas make it to Formula 1?

His results in the junior categories caught Williams' attention, and the team signed him as its official test driver in 2010. After several years of testing and Friday practice appearances, he made his race debut with the team in 2013.

Did Bottas race in any other series alongside his Formula 1 career?

On an occasional basis, yes: he has entered the Arctic Rally Finland in several winters, won the Rallycircuit Côte d'Azur ice race in 2019, and also competed at the Race of Champions in 2023.

Why did Bottas leave the Sauber team at the end of 2024?

Sauber chose Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as its drivers for 2025, so Bottas and the team parted ways after the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Where is Bottas racing in 2026?

With Cadillac, the American manufacturer freshly joining the Formula 1 field, alongside teammate Sergio Pérez, after spending 2025 as Mercedes' reserve driver.

Valtteri Bottas

Season Breakdown

Career by Team