Valtteri Bottas may have spent a season in the shadows, but it is not because of his own performance, but that of his car.
The Finn continues to beat Guanyu Zhou weekend after weekend with a comfortable margin in qualifying: half a second on average.
Enough to allow him to save his place in F1 next year? To be extended for a year and play alongside Nico Hülkenberg?
“I hope we have some news soon. Christmas is just around the corner. Let’s try to get things sorted out over the break before Austin.” he said last night after the race.
This is the trend that is emerging and the words of Valtteri Bottas, for the official F1 website, also go in this direction. Bottas should remain on the grid next year.
Even if Valtteri Bottas has a plan B, plan A might be the one he wants…
“I think for me it’s very clear that Formula 1 is where I want to be and where I most likely will be.”
“Let’s say if it’s a hypothetical question like ‘if not Formula 1, where would I go…?’ I would definitely still race. I’m a racer, I’ve raced my whole life and I couldn’t stop racing. Plan B would be IndyCar, try to win the championship in x years – but I don’t think that’s the case for me yet, I’m not there yet.”
“I can be confident on my side, I know that.”
“I know I should be in Formula 1 and based on the positive reactions, let’s say, from Mattia and his intentions for the future, I feel like I’m in a strong position. But well… it’s still too early to say more.”
What would save Valtteri Bottas? Probably the arrival of Mattia Binotto to replace Seidl, at the head of the Audi project.
“I haven’t felt like I’ve been the number one priority for the last six months. Obviously there’s been a signing [Hulkenberg] before me, and it is obvious that the team and management have looked at all the options, divulging it a little bit.”
“I would say earlier this year I was in a situation where I had to look at all the options, because you don’t know how the pieces are going to fit together.”
“But today, what I want is very clear. There is only Formula 1, and it is the same for the years to come. This is now what I will focus all my energy on instead of looking elsewhere.”
“With Mattia, when he arrived, we met quite quickly. I have a lot of respect for him, and I saw that he also had respect for me. And you know, we were adversaries in the past when I was at Mercedes, when he was at Ferrari, and I gave them a hard time. So he knows that it’s better to have me at his side than against him!”
“I think in the situation we are in now, the team needs experience… if I were a team principal, I would take that experience, because to get out of this situation (in which my team is at the moment, ed.) you need someone who has been in a winning team, who knows what a team needs to be successful in terms of the factory, in terms of people, in terms of the working method. That’s why I think I’m in a good position.”
Bottas has one more good reason to relax…
Valtteri Bottas appeared, in his comments, very serene and relaxed: and indeed we seem to have witnessed the birth of a new Bottas in recent years, a Bottas with his buttocks in the air and a mullet haircut… Why is that?
“There is one important thing, it is age, experience,”
“But then I obviously changed my mood. [de Mercedes à Sauber]. For the first time in the sport, I had stability in terms of contract. And almost at the same time, or just before, a new partner coming from Australia [sa petite amie cycliste Tiffany Cromwell]. »
“I think all these things have allowed me to not take certain things too seriously and to see life as a whole, instead of closing myself off.
“It becomes, let’s say, less personal and less distracting. I think it’s just the experience. There’s so much to do in this world and in life, that’s why I don’t get too stressed about certain things.”
Valtteri Bottas would only be extended for one year by Mattia Binotto… but he assures that he does not feel close to retirement.
“I feel like I have many more years ahead of me, I don’t feel any signs of deterioration.”
“Every year I feel like I’m learning something new and becoming a more complete rider. And there’s not a single area where I can say I’ve regressed since the beginning. That’s why I think I still have a lot of time and things to give to this sport.”
“I’ve always had confidence that there would be someone in the paddock who would know what I could bring to the team and who would know my skills, and I hope and trust that that will be the case, you know. And if that’s not the case, then… it’s their loss.”
