Revealed: The Sweet Gesture by Mercedes for Valtteri Bottas Despite Hamilton Losing the Title at the End of Abu Dhabi GP

Despite being furious with the race officiating and the final result, Mercedes found a way to express their gratitude and thankfulness to Valtteri Bottas. The Fin’s time at Mercedes came to an end this season. And while he would’ve wanted to ‘celebrate’, he couldn’t; such were the circumstances at the end of the race.

Regardless, one part of the Mercedes garage found some crucial seconds to trigger the setting ‘Chassis Default 77′ on Bottas’ car. This resulted in a message displayed on the driver’s dash as he was on his slowing lap.

The message read, “Kiitos Valtteri,” which is Finnish, for “Thank you Valtteri.”

And no matter what one says, Bottas has earned every bit of respect and every ‘thank you’ he has received during this weekend. He has been one of the best examples of a teammate in the history of the sport.

Valtteri Bottas leaves Mercedes with a bittersweet taste

Speaking on his five years with the Silver Arrows, Bottas revealed he has “mixed feelings”, but he’s looking at the positives. He said, “When I joined the team in 2017, the only thing on my mind was to win the drivers’ championship.”

“That didn’t happen but I need to look at the positives; I’ve grown so much as a driver and as a human being, we’ve learned so much as a team and actually achieved some pretty cool things together, also many, many positives that I will take on board.”

Bottas continued, “I think in this sport you’re never fully satisfied but yeah, in five years, I’ve achieved something and I’m sure that will help me in the future.”

Indeed, he has achieved quite a lot in his time at the German team. He won ten races, finished on the podium 58 times, and bagged 20 pole positions since joining Mercedes in 2017.

Arguably, in the last few years, Valtteri Bottas has proved to be the third most consistent and reliable driver in Formula 1. He was key in all five of his team’s constructors’ titles.

He leaves Mercedes with his head held up high as he looks forward to a new chapter at Alfa Romeo in 2022.

Also Read: Mercedes Make a Heartfelt Request to Alfa Romeo F1 Before Valtteri Bottas Switch