Bottas laughs at gift from Mercedes: 'Don't have room for it'

Valtteri Bottas had to say goodbye to Mercedes at the end of 2021. The Finnish driver will be working for Alfa Romeo next season and therefore had to say goodbye to his team after five years. The German racing stable decided to put him in the spotlight in the process.

Bottas entered Mercedes in 2017 as the replacement for Nico Rosberg. Although the Scandinavian never managed to live up to the sky-high expectations, he was a pleasant person within the team. His teammates wanted to thank him by offering him a gift.

The driver tells in the Finnish podcast Suoraa puhetta minusta that this caused him a big surprise. "They had a little surprise when I came to the factory on the last day. They gave me my first winning car in 2017. Just a nice gift. I don't have room for it now though," Bottas laughed loudly.

Next season Bottas gets a whole new challenge. Whereas at Mercedes he was mainly the driver who had to support Lewis Hamilton in the battle for the world title, at Alfa Romeo he will be given a pioneering role. Together with youngster Guanyu Zhou, Bottas must manage to breathe new life into the team's performance and make use of his experience.