Bottas expresses gratitude to Wolff: 'He made a big difference'

Valtteri Bottas is in excellent form at Alfa Romeo. The Finnish driver has finished in the top ten in seven of the nine Grands Prix this season, racking up plenty of points for his team. According to Bottas, he is benefiting from his experience at Mercedes, as he told the Motor Sport Podcast.

The German formation brought him to Mercedes in 2017 as a replacement for Nico Rosberg, who won the world title a year earlier. Toto Wolff played an important role in that. "He was one of the first guys who reached out to me," Bottas recalls. "With Toto’s support, no doubt, it made a big difference to my career."

Mercedes hoped that with Bottas it had secured a driver who could compete with Lewis Hamilton, but nothing proved to be further from the truth. The Briton's performance proved to be too much of a challenge and the two parted company last year.

Bottas is grateful for support

Bottas does not regret his move to Mercedes and is grateful to Wolff for his support. Besides the Austrian, Mika Häkkinen and Didier Coton were also important to him in his development.