Bottas had a lot of bad luck: "Should I cry or should I laugh?"

Lewis Hamilton has become seven-time world champion and happiness has made him laugh until the coronavirus infection, it is Valtteri Bottas who remains in the shadows. His goal this year was to fight with his teammate and although he showed that fighting spirit from time to time, he didn't come close in the end. What also didn't help is that the Finn had to deal with bad luck several times.

Many incidents

At Silverstone earlier this year, the bad luck started for Bottas, when his tyre snapped just before the end of the race. As a result, the Finn had to go to the pits and lost valuable places, where Hamilton's tyre later collapsed and he was able to secure victory on three wheels. Bottas also had engine problems at the Nürburgring and he had problems at Monza.

And so there have been more incidents and, to make matters worse, the Finn suffered two punctures last Sunday, which meant he came eighth. Things are not really going well for him. He says to Autosport.com: "If I would make a list of all the unlucky events that are happening in the races during this year it is quite a long list."

Feeding a black cat

"I mean, should I cry or should I laugh? I'd rather laugh. Some of those things there is nothing you can do obviously and I am not a superstitious guy - so the thing with the cat was a joke," Bottas is referring to a joke he made the other day about feeding a black cat in his home. He said: "I can promise you there is no food anymore for that black cat!"

So he can still fool around with it a bit, but it stings in the end. "It just sometimes happens. Of course you people can have a run of bad luck and it can be many years or a short moment. I hope things equal at some point. That would be nice."

It remains to be seen whether happiness will ever make him laugh, as has been the case with Hamilton. Next year the Finn will be driving Mercedes again, so he will have another chance.

Team boss Toto Wolff also sees that Bottas has a lot of bad luck, but says he is mentally very strong and ignores it in order to stay focused. These incidents would also make him stronger, but he feels sorry for the Finn: "I feel sorry for him, picking up all those problems in a single season, when he could have won three or four or five races more, and been a solid second at least. It's difficult."