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Opinion | Valtteri Bottas should be pleased about leaving Mercedes

Opinion | Valtteri Bottas should be pleased about leaving Mercedes

06-09-2021 12:45 Last update: 13:11
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Matt Gretton

Editor-in-Chief

That's it. It's actually happened. Valtteri Bottas leaves Mercedes. A deal that has seemingly been hanging by a thin thread ever since the Finnish driver joined Mercedes in 2017 after Nico Rosberg's somewhat sudden and surprising retirement announcement. After spending those five seasons fighting for a contract, Bottas might actually be pleased to see Toto Wolff screwing up his contract and finding a seat for him at Alfa Romeo.

It’s an idea that’s difficult to compute. Walking out of a door attached to the team who have won every single World Championship title the sport has to offer since 2014 aren’t going to be easy steps to make, and will initially fill Bottas with a sense of disappointment. But really, it's not all doom and gloom. In fact, this might well be the light at the end of the tunnel. 

The chances of Bottas becoming World Champion in the second Mercedes seat compared to becoming World Champion in an Aston Martin, Alpine or McLaren are equal. Perhaps Alfa Romeo is half a single percentage point down, but the same theory applies. The reality is, no chance. 

A tough job

In equal machinery, Lewis Hamilton is always going to have the upper hand over Bottas. Arguably, only Max Verstappen and George Russell seem to have the potential to beat the seven-time World Champion over the course of a 23 race season, and we’re never going to see the Dutchman climb into a Mercedes. Certainly not anytime soon anyway. But we're going to see Russell climb into that Mercedes seat and it'll be interesting to see how he performs. Will Hamilton become the next Sebastian Vettel following his partnership with Charles Leclerc. Or will Mercedes put some orders on the young Brit? That's a story for another day.

Bottas has been trying to live up to the expectations Hamilton creates in the Mercedes ever since he arrived at the team for the 2017 season. Nine wins, 17 poles and 54 podiums isn’t a bad return from 92 Grands Prix. He’s successfully completed his criteria, including four consecutive Constructors Championships. But he will no longer have that stress of being compared to Hamilton. He can enjoy the weekend without the weight of expectation or comparison. 

And at a different team, he can look for a long-term contract rather than one single-year contract he's been getting. Signing just a one-year contract extension isn’t advantageous for the driver because you’re always fighting against it. By the time the ink gets to dry in the hot summer days, the Championship for Bottas is usually over. And when it starts again in March, he’s under pressure to ensure he gets another chance to scribble over the paper. That's all gone. He can relax right from the start of the season and really focus on getting the best out of himself and the car, rather than thinking about being on the grid next season. 

Regulation change

With the rules and regulation book getting a reprint in 2022, and at 31 years of age, it’s the perfect time for Bottas to escape the vicious circle at Mercedes. There's always been this talk about Bottas 3.0, or whatever version we're running now, but the reality is, he's never been able to push that reset button. 

Now, in a new environment, we really will see Bottas 2.0. A new version, a fresh start. And we'll really find out how good of a driver he is.