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Thesis | Valtteri Bottas should certainly not be written off
- Sam Godber
They are fine figures: 67 podium finishes, including ten wins, and 20 poles. Valtteri Bottas has earned his place in the history books of Formula 1, although the figures are in stark contrast to his achievements over the past year and a half at Alfa Romeo. His 10th place at the Italian Grand Prix marked his first point since the Canadian GP in June. So, after several weeks in which here and there there were mostly doubts about his motivation, Bottas silenced everyone by reaching the top ten with a mediocre Alfa Romeo. Therefore, the statement: Valtteri Bottas should definitely not be written off.
Follow Bottas' Instagram account and you will see him doing a wide variety of things: hiking, riding his road bike, starting businesses, and so on. Oh yes, he is also active in Formula 1. With this season's results - the Finn picked up just six points - there were slow doubts about whether the focus was still enough on motorsport?
Bottas only doing nice things
Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Bottas addressed this himself: "Yes, it's true. I am involved in quite a few things, all things for which I have a passion. They are fun things to do and be involved in. In a lot of things I do, I have people helping me, so I can decide how much my load is. Especially during race weekends, I try to minimise things I don't want to do as much as possible."
"I think it's nice to have things other than Formula 1 as well, just to keep myself mentally fresh. Every time I go to a race weekend, I really want to be here and give the best performance possible. At the moment, I have found the right balance," Bottas said.
Bottas has a commitment until the end of 2024 at Alfa Romeo - which will be renamed Sauber from next season. While the team's transformation to Audi is in full swing, Sauber could obviously make good use of a motivated as well as performing Bottas. What do the readers of GPblog: Valtteri Bottas should definitely not be written off; agree or disagree with this statement? Vote and give your opinion in the comments.