© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Valtteri Bottas explains how he was on the verge of quitting Mercedes and Formula 1 after he was asked to move over for Lewis Hamilton in 2018.
During the 2021 season of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ Valtteri Bottas revealed he was “thinking of quitting, of giving up”, after Mercedes asked him to move over for Lewis Hamilton at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix.
Although the Finn understood this was done because he was no longer in the championship fight, while Lewis was battling Sebastian Vettel for the title, the whole experience was very tough on him.
Now Bottas explains what went on during his challenging 2018 season.
“It started with some setbacks, then it kind of got even worse towards the end of the year,” the Finn told GP Racing.
“I remember the end of the year being really tough to deal with. Obviously, week after week when things don’t go right and you get beaten, you have a bit of bad luck as well, and not having a single race win the whole season.
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“I could see it was really affecting me, that I wasn’t driving at my best anymore. And, you know, confidence goes down, enjoyment of the sport disappears.
“I managed to survive until the end [of the season]. I still tried to give it all I had every weekend, but once the season was over I was really tired.
“Physically, yes, but mentally it was tough. All the way until early January I was thinking ‘should I call the team and say okay, that’s me, job done’.
“But then it was like a switch I found. Basically, f**k it, I’m not gonna give up. I had to see the big picture, that if I quit now I would regret it all my life,” concluded the Finn.
