Bottas “would have deserved to stay at Mercedes” – Wolff

2022 F1 season

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised Valtteri Bottas following confirmation he will leave the team at the end of the season.

Bottas will join Alfa Romeo next year, meaning he will compete without Mercedes power for the first since his Formula 1 debut nine years ago. His place at the team is widely expected to be taken by Mercedes junior driver George Russell, who will join them from Williams.

“This hasn’t been an easy process or a straightforward decision for us,” said Wolff. “Valtteri has done a fantastic job over the past five seasons and he has made an essential contribution to our success and to our growth.”

Bottas and team mate Lewis Hamilton have taken Mercedes to four consecutive constructors’ championships. Hamilton won each of the drivers’ titles during that time.

“Together with Lewis, he has built a benchmark partnership between two team mates in the sport, and that has been a valuable weapon in our championship battles and pushed us to achieve unprecedented success,” Wolff continued.

“He would absolutely have deserved to stay with the team and I am pleased that he has been able to choose an exciting challenge with Alfa next year to continue his career at the top level of the sport.

“When the time comes, he will leave us with huge goodwill from every single member of the team, and he will forever be part of the Mercedes family.”

Bottas said he will be on “maximum attack for Mercedes all the way to the final lap in Abu Dhabi” before joining Alfa Romeo next year.

“When I look back on my time with Mercedes I want to be able to say that I squeezed every drop out of this opportunity and left nothing on the table,” he said. “I want to make sure that we finish our time together as champions.

“It has been a privilege and a great sporting challenge to work with Lewis and the harmony in our relationship played a big part in the constructors’ championships we won as team mates. Later this year, the time will come to say goodbye – that’s not for now, but I would like to thank Toto and the team for the respect in how we took the decision together.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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53 comments on “Bottas “would have deserved to stay at Mercedes” – Wolff”

  1. He wanted to follow the footsteps of Mika but he really didn’t have a chance to beat Lewis in a similar machinery. This was slightly similar story as Vettel in Ferrari. They both wanted to replicate what their idols did. For Vettel there were many things that didn’t go in his way. But for Valtteri it was Lewis.

    1. Being a second driver in a team build around Lewis his chances never looked good.

      1. Much like Max teammates

      2. You are overlooking the fact that he just wasn’t good enough regardless lol.

    2. Ever since Mika outqualified Senna in his first race, it was always gonna be a tall order

    3. Hakkinen wouldn’t have beaten hamilton either though, and I’m far from a hamilton fan, especially since he seems to have changed his style to mercedes’, liked him more at mclaren.

      But I think hakkinen is more or less a raikkonen, something inbetween top drivers and 2nd tier drivers.

  2. Shame he wasn’t allowed to freely race HAM for the vast majority of their time together. All the best to him as he now steps into the lead driver role!

    1. But he was freely allowed to race every one else on the grid, and hasn’t overtaken an opponent on track despite having a much quicker car for years.

      Remember, even nikita mazepin has overtaken a driver on track this season.

      Alfa Romeo are in for a shock next year

      1. He must have overtaken on track this season, nothing springs to mind instantly, but surely he has. *though the fact nothing springs to mind is perhaps itself a sign that he has underperformed there.

      2. He has poor racecraft but proved to be good in qualifying and unfortunately better than perez at red bull.

    2. Seriously? No way that’s said with a straight face. Bottas wasn’t as fast as Hamilton on Sundays. That’s about it.

  3. maximum attack for Mercedes all the way to the final lap in Abu Dhabi

    Unless when James said no.
    I hope Bottas can enjoy the race more in Alfa Romeo.

  4. But he didnt.

  5. If he deserved to stay in the team he still would be in the team, not being moved aside after years of 1 year deals. I feel bad for Bottas, he’s a decent driver and on his day showed he’s as quick as Hamilton but the amount of times I’ve heard him told to back off, slow down or move aside for his team-mate suggests he was never given a completely fair go. I get the feeling he may have less success at Alfa Romeo, but he’ll probably have a lot more fun.

    1. “the amount of times I’ve heard him told to back off, slow down or move aside for his team-mate suggests he was never given a completely fair go.”

      Which of course is a load of tripe. The times he’s been told to move or been put on an alternate strategy was when he’s not been in the fight for the title and Hamilton has needed the points. Do you even remember the time when Bottas was behind Vettel in Hungary, and the team told him to let Hamilton have a go and if Hamilton couldn’t get past he would give the position back, Lewis moved over on the final corner to give Bottas his place back, despite Hamilton being in a very tight title fight with Vettel at that point against a Ferrari that was looking very strong, do you remember that, do you?

      1. Wow, you have found the only example in 5 years where valteri was fed up with being a “wingman”.
        After so many disgraceful interventions he was thinking on his own position. And rightly so I may add. The championship was completely open then.

        1. “Wow, you have found the only example in 5 years where valteri was fed up with being a “wingman”.”

          “And rightly so I may add. The championship was completely open then.”

          I’m glad you figured out the reason i used that example.

        2. To be fair one of your recent examples of Bottas being treated unfairly was Silverstone. Where the Mercs got a 1st and 3rd instead of settling for a 2nd and 3rd, and giving the win away to make Bottas feel better about himself. Odd given that was where the RB team threw away Perez’s and the teams points to stop Ham getting one, and you had no problem with that.
          In your world Ham and the Mercs should be putting Bottas personal feelings above that of fighting the RBs/Ferraris for world championships.

          1. ian dearing

            Odd given that was where the RB team threw away Perez’s and the teams points to stop Ham getting one, and you had no problem with that.

            The fastest lap denial after putting Bottas on softs was more humiliating than that.

      2. It was Lewis decision to let Bottas pass. Didn’t Toto say that it was stupid and could cost them the championship?

      3. petebaldwin (@)
        6th September 2021, 13:41

        Yeah… the got Bottas out of the way so he could no longer try to attack or pick up on any mistakes and let Hamilton do it. Part of the deal was that if Hamilton couldn’t get past, he’d give Bottas his place back. it’s not exactly the best example of “letting them race” out there!

      4. Things I remember –
        – Being told to give up race wins to Hamilton, despite the championship not being under threat
        – Literally being described as a wingman
        – “Valtteri it’s James”
        – Constant 1 year deals with no guarantee of staying and no stability
        – Asking to do a different strategy and being told no, only for Hamilton to ask the same thing and getting his way
        – Telling the team what he needed and being ignored
        – Overwhelmingly larger amount of technical/mechanical/operational issues

        I don’t think it’s rude to Bottas to say he wasn’t able to beat Hamilton consistently but there are a LOT of reasons going on here other than ‘he was just slower’.

        1. “Things I remember –”

          Sounds like a -you- problem.

    2. Toto really does think the public are fools if he thinks he can get away with saying that Valterri deserved to stay while also kicking him out of the door…

    3. He is very fast over one lap with no other cars around, but an absolutely awful racer

    4. I’m sure what wolff means, because I’ve thought about that too before I even knew russell was gonna come, is that bottas absolutely did well enough as number 2 (please look at perez!!!), however a driver possibly stronger than hamilton is coming and mercedes want the best drivers available for 2022 with the new regulations, props to them for once for daring to go with 2 roosters.

  6. Bottas suffered more in the hands of the press and “fans” than within the team. He was unable to live with the pressure that comes with fan criticism which demoralised him greately.
    Unusually for a Fin, he displayed too much outward emotion and allowed his confidence to get knocked.
    One of the few Finnish F1 drivers that chose to string several English sentences together and be audible all the while during interviews.

    1. Absolutely true. In particular one David Coulthard. Forever sticking the knife in.
      Coulthard said of himself in one podcast that there is nothing worse than a scorned Scott.
      I remember when Coulthard in the days of pre-race grid walks a few years ago, trundled up to Bottas
      who was being interviewed at the time by a young female reporter, perhaps Finnish? Coulthard obviously
      expected Bottas to immediately turn to him and his film crew and dismiss the interview he was already in.
      I though Bottas rather Gallantly made Coulthard wait and allowed the young reporter to finish.
      I don’t think Coulthard ever forgave him for that.

      1. Ahah, a friend of mine said it too, something like “hate no fury like a woman scorned”, also scottish ofc!

        1. hell hath* ofc

  7. He would absolutely have deserved to stay with the team

    Lies and empty words all the way around, that’s what Mercedes’ modus operandi is really about.

    1. Despite me not trusting at all in what wolff says, I think it makes sense this time: bottas deserved to stay as a number 2, but russell deserves a chance in a top team more, if they had 3 cars they’d keep bottas.

      1. Despite me not trusting at all in what wolff says, I think it makes sense this time: bottas deserved to stay as a number 2, but russell deserves a chance in a top team more, if they had 3 cars they’d keep bottas.

        Bottas has been progressively delivering a poorer work even as a number 2, just look at his terrible performances a couple of times this season. But still he’s doing a better job than Perez on that matter, and had been more consistent too despite being far from matching Perez’s racing impetus. So then he’s still okay for his role but deteriorating on the big picture, and having two top drivers for the team is still better than having an inept second driver, despite the tension it might arise.

    2. Despite me not trusting at all in what wolff says, I think it makes sense this time: bottas deserved to stay as a number 2, but russell deserves a chance in a top team more, if they had 3 cars they’d keep bottas

  8. Is Wolff trying to make it sound like Valterri has chosen to go to Alfa Romeo? “Would have deserved to stay” implies Mercedes are perfectly happy to keep him!

    1. Indeed, “Totospeak” should be added to the F1 dictionary after this article!

  9. What does that even mean? that he would’ve deserved to stay if there wasn’t someone better? that’s like saying he’d not have deserved it… and he didn’t, since they replaced him…

    What a weird thing to say…

    1. Russell risks being lost to the wild hence the decision. Had the Williams being a competitive team, Mercedes would have not have made this decision. Russell has shown himself to be very good and younger there was not point keeping him another season in Williams to learn bad habits. The ideal situation was for Hamilton to retire and then Wolff can have both of them

  10. But Russell, of course, deserves a Mercedes chance more.
    Next season will be the first in the hybrid era Bottas doesn’t drive a Mercedes-powered car as Williams was Renault-powered in 2013.

    1. Did Valtteri have to clear up his managerial interests to get a seat at a Ferrari-powered team? I seem to remember someone suggesting such a thing was needed …

    2. Yes, that’s my point, many people seem to not understand what wolff means.

  11. What a very strange thing to say i.e. ‘He would have absolutely deserved to stay with the team’. Make you wonder if Bottas lept before he was pushed. So perhaps he started looking for alternative drives much earlier in the season?

    Of course it might just be corporate Toto speak. He was adequate but not as good as the alternatives.

    I do think Bottas has been a bit disappointing over the past two seasons though. He seems to have been making progress up until 2019 but has dropped off quite a bit since.

    1. Not really, he was never going to be a world beater, and they didn’t need one. In the same way Perez is just an afterthought at RB, because they don’t need a world beater either. They already have one.
      But Mercedes need to look to the future now. Russell is possibly the future, Bottas is clearly not.

  12. I want to say thanks. Bottas is a damn good teammate a hell of a racer. Was it Mercedes that enabled him to extract his most? Is he a better racer for his time under Mercedes? I think so and now wish him best as his slide away from F1 begins.
    George should begin his growth cycle now that the big team has given him the green light. Happens to all successful Racers at this level. So thanks Bottas for your part of this amazing Mercedes crush. Go George you are the future of F1 now.

  13. Of course I understand TW’s desire to be diplomatic here, but yeah like others I agree that was awkwardly put. He would have deserved to stay…but he hasn’t earned to be put in the role of team leader post-LH, to be the heir apparent. No better time to start GR off on the team with the new chapter, to learn from LH, and then to be fully engrained on the team when LH retires.

    1. Indeed, deserved to stay as a number 2, but if hamilton had left there’s no way they’d have taken a weak driver and made bottas leader, they’d have taken another number 1, bottas can only be good as a number 2 and with 2022 looming they decided to go back to the 2-roosters-mode.

    1. Purple.

  14. When Toto said Albon needs to be clear of Red Bull connections to drive for Williams, does he mean that Valteri has no connections to Merc now he drives for Alfa Romeo/ferrari?.

    1. Doubt that, that’s not fair to other teams that mercedes don’t need to sever those contracts.

  15. People say such nice things after they fire you, or after you die. :-)

  16. Unlikely scenario: Bottas wins every race from now on. What does Toto do? :-)

    1. No idea, perez impressing in the 2nd half of 2020 didn’t convince stroll to take him back, but that was probably a marketing move, not performance like this.

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