Bottas considered retirement after 2018 Russian GP

Water flowed under the bridge at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix Formula 1, and Valtteri Bottas agreed to talk about it, two and a half years later. The Finn, followed by Netflix cameras during season 3 of the series Drive to Survive (in French, “Drivers of their destiny”), revealed his feelings after this ordeal.

Test in the literal sense, with a second place acquired behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but also in the literal sense, with an order coming from the pit wall to let his colleague pass to Mercedes ; the famous radio message “Valtteri, it’s James (Vowles, engineer responsible for strategy. Editor’s note)…”

At this point in the race, Lewis Hamilton was involved in a fight against Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel and the Star brand felt the need to swap places at the top of the standings in order to secure a double, even if it meant penalizing the Finn.

“Sochi in 2018 was a pretty tough race, explains Valtteri Bottas in front of the Netflix cameras. It was hard to digest. I was really angry. Honestly, I asked myself “why did I just do that?”. I thought about leaving F1, about giving up. Immediately after arrival, I told myself that I wouldn’t be taken back again.” to follow such instructions.

Since then, the former GP3 Series champion has finished runner-up twice, each time behind Lewis Hamilton, without really worrying him for the Drivers' title.