Valtteri Bottas ‘never seriously considered’ quitting F1 after Mercedes exit

Bottas has moved to Alfa Romeo from Mercedes for the 2022 season

Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas says he never “seriously considered” retiring from Formula 1 after his move to Alfa Romeo from Mercedes was announced.

Bottas was at Mercedes for five years and helped teammate Lewis Hamilton win several world titles. His move to his new team was made public ahead of the 2021 Italian Grand Prix and he says the “long-term project” is motivation for him to stay in the F1.

“This change and with a new contract, nothing happened overnight, so I had actually quite a lot of time to process things and thinking about the difference in our roles,” he told GP Fans.

“Of course, I also questioned myself, do I want this, or should I try doing something else? That was also one option, but I never seriously considered leaving Formula 1 because deep inside me, I still love Formula 1 and the competition and many things about it.

“Again, referring to this something new and a long-term project, that’s the motivation for me, to try and help the team the best I can and I think it can be really rewarding if we achieve some good things.”

Bottas’ last efforts in a Mercedes car was at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a sub-par race for the star. He didn’t aid Hamilton as he was stuck in the middle of the pack throughout in a race that saw the British driver denied a record eighth world title.

After the 2021 season was decided, Bottas said he was “gutted” for his teammate.

He told the F1 website: “Of course, we wanted to get both titles, and getting the constructors’ again is huge, but at the same time it hurts that Lewis didn’t get the drivers’ because even for me, I feel like I lost the championship because he lost it.

“I really feel gutted for him because I feel like he deserved it... He had a great start, great race, and then things change like this. But you know, that’s just sport, that’s just how it is. Sometimes it goes against, sometimes it goes for you – but today was not our day.”