“More Like a Race Team Than…”: Once a Mercedes Loyalist, Valtteri Bottas Takes a Jab at Toto Wolff & Co. While Praising Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas made the decision to leave Mercedes at the end of 2021 after a stellar tenure, during which he performed to the best of his potential and helped the team to win five constructor’s championships. While also supporting teammate Lewis Hamilton in winning back-to-back driver championships. And after serving the Silver Arrows as second fiddle for five years, the man switched to Alfa Romeo as their primary driver. Bottas has undergone major changes since leaving the Brackley-based team, the first of which was an evolution in attitude, that now he won’t be chasing any driver whom he wants to beat. The second is the shift in environment, according to the Finnish driver, Sauber is mostly relaxed, whereas the Mercedes’ atmosphere was a little more “company” focused.

We are all aware that Mercedes has established a strong reputation for itself over the past few years. Previously, the company just manufactured cars, but after purchasing 75.1% of Brawn GP in 2009, the group completely changed its course. Since then, everything has evolved, and the brand now has three distinct sets of stakeholders. Daimler, the business that owns Mercedes-Benz, and Ineos tie Toto Wolff with a combined 33.3 percent market share. The squad has always operated in a “company” setting where winning has been the team’s primary goal.

Bottas, who spent five seasons with Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, is intimately familiar with how the Silver Arrows operate. When asked in the Beyond the Grid Podcast how working with German manufacturers differs from Sauber, the Finnish driver who was replaced by George Russell at the start of 2022 responded, while taking a jab at Wolff and Co. that the atmosphere at Mercedes has been more than just racing, whereas at Alfa Romeo things have only been focused on racing.

He said, “It’s quite different I would say. Definitely like when I jump from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo or Sauber. For me, the immediate feeling was more like a race team than a company. Definitely felt a bit more corporate at Mercedes versus just pure race team at Alpha but which one is better I don’t know.”

READ MORE: Before Becoming Lewis Hamilton’s Trusted Wingman, Valtteri Bottas Had a Tempting F1 Offer From Mercedes’ Rivals

It wouldn’t be incorrect to describe Bottas as a veteran of the sport given that he has been on the grid since 2013 and has had a decent number of teammates throughout the years. In the podcast when he was asked who he thought was the fastest driver on the grid, he gave a response that might surprise us all.

Valtteri Bottas ends the debate around the fastest driver of the grid

The discussion over who is the quickest driver on the grid is still raging in the F1 community and in the media, and it’s likely that most people will choose Max Verstappen given the robotic dominance. However, it won’t be too difficult for the fans to accept the name that Bottas revealed.

Lewis Hamilton and Bottas faced off against each other while they were racing in a Mercedes so the fact that the Finnish driver knows the 38-year-old inside out has made him reveal during the podcast that in his opinion, Lewis Hamilton is the fastest on the grid.

He said,  “Lewis is the fastest teammate I’ve ever had and I think he’s still the fastest driver on the whole grid. While comparing Hamilton to the likes of Max, he continued, “ahead of Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc], for me he’s at the top. He’s very talented, but above all he works very hard, much harder than people think. Most likely he will be the last driver to leave the circuit.” [translated via Google Translate]

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Do you agree with Bottas’ opinion on the fastest driver? If not, who according to you is the fastest on F1 tracks?