Bottas was born on 28 August 1989 in Nastola, Finland, to Rauno Bottas and Marianne Välimaa. His father owns a small cleaning company and his mother is an undertaker. He studied automotive engineering at a vocational school in Heinola and graduated as an auto mechanic. He completed mandatory military service at the Finnish Defence Forces Sports School in Lahti, holding the rank of lance corporal.
Bottas's interest in motorsport was sparked at the age of six by a chance visit to a karting event he had seen advertised at his local supermarket while shopping with his grandfather. His racing hero growing up was compatriot Mika Häkkinen. He finished eighth in the 2005 Karting World Cup for the P.D.B. Racing Team, using a Gillard chassis and Parilla engines.
Bottas won both the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2008 Formula Renault Northern European Cup, with Motopark, defeating Daniel Ricciardo by three points in the Eurocup. He moved up into the Formula Three Euroseries for 2009 with reigning champions ART Grand Prix, finishing third in the championship despite not winning a race. In June 2009 he won the Masters of Formula 3, and by winning the event again in 2010 he became the first driver to take the F3 Masters title twice. In 2011 he contested the GP3 Series, remaining with ART, and secured the title by winning the penultimate race ahead of teammate James Calado after claiming a win in each of the last four race weekends.
Bottas was signed as the official Formula One test driver for Williams in January 2010, conducting straight-line aerodynamic testing in the FW32. He continued in the role in 2011, driving the FW33 in the post-season young drivers' test at Yas Marina Circuit, and in 2012 took part in fifteen Friday practice sessions, making his Grand Prix weekend debut at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
In November 2012 it was announced that Bottas would replace Bruno Senna and partner Pastor Maldonado as a full-time Williams race driver for 2013. He finished 14th on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix and scored his first Formula One points with eighth place at the United States Grand Prix, the team's best result of the season. He ended his debut year 17th in the World Drivers' Championship, scoring four of Williams's five points.
In 2014, partnering Felipe Massa, Bottas took his first podium with third place at the Austrian Grand Prix, where the Williams pair locked out the front row. Further podiums followed at the British, German, Belgian, Russian and season-ending Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. He finished the season fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 186 points to Massa's 134, securing Williams third in the World Constructors' Championship.
Bottas remained with Williams for 2015 and 2016 alongside Massa. In 2015 he missed the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after a back injury, took podiums at the Canadian and Mexican Grands Prix, and finished fifth in the championship with 136 points. In 2016 he claimed the team's only podium of the year at the Canadian Grand Prix, set an unofficial Formula One record speed of 378 km/h at the Baku City Circuit, and finished eighth in the championship with 85 points, qualifying ahead of Massa at seventeen of twenty-one races.
Following reigning champion Nico Rosberg's retirement, Mercedes announced in January 2017 that they had signed Bottas to partner Lewis Hamilton. He took his maiden pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix and his maiden Grand Prix victory at the Russian Grand Prix, becoming the fifth Finnish driver to win in Formula One. Further wins at the Austrian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix helped him finish third in the championship with 305 points.
His 2018 campaign was winless; he set a record for the most second-place finishes (seven) in a season without a win and became the first Mercedes driver to finish a season without a win since Michael Schumacher in 2012. He finished fifth in the championship with 247 points and later revealed he almost retired from the sport, stating "I lost the joy of F1".
In 2019 Bottas opened the season with victory at the Australian Grand Prix and added wins at the Azerbaijan, Japanese and United States Grands Prix, finishing runner-up to Hamilton with 326 points across fifteen podiums. In 2020 he won the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix, again finishing runner-up to Hamilton with 223 points.
Bottas extended his contract into 2021, his final year at Mercedes. His only victory of the year came at the Turkish Grand Prix, a win he described as one of his best ever, after passing Charles Leclerc for the lead. He finished third in the championship with 226 points, helping Mercedes to an eighth consecutive World Constructors' Championship. It was announced in September that the team would replace him with George Russell. Across his Mercedes tenure he contributed to five consecutive World Constructors' Championships.
Bottas joined Alfa Romeo for 2022 on a multi-year deal, partnering rookie Zhou Guanyu. He scored 49 points to finish 10th in the World Drivers' Championship, helping the Hinwil-based team to sixth in the Constructors' Championship — its best result since 2012 — and described the season as "probably the most enjoyable so far". In 2023 he scored ten points to finish 15th as Alfa Romeo finished ninth of the ten teams.
For 2024 the team rebranded to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber after the Alfa Romeo partnership ended. Bottas finished 22nd in the World Drivers' Championship, last of the full-time drivers, and failed to score points over a season for the first time in his career. He went into the season without a 2025 contract and held talks with Audi ahead of their takeover of the team, but the seats were ultimately taken by Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
In December 2024 it was announced that Bottas would re-join Mercedes as a reserve driver for 2025, describing the move as "like coming back home". In March he undertook a private test in the McLaren MCL60 as part of a reserve driver sharing arrangement between Mercedes and McLaren.
In August 2025, Cadillac announced that Bottas had signed for their debut 2026 campaign alongside six-time Grand Prix winner Sergio Pérez. In Cadillac's first race, the Australian Grand Prix, Bottas qualified 19th and retired with a mechanical issue.
Bottas has competed in rallying, taking a stage win and finishing fifth overall at the Arctic Rally in January 2019, winning the Paul Ricard-based Rallycircuit Côte d'Azur in December 2019, and driving a Citroën DS3 WRC car to ninth at the 2020 Arctic Lapland Rally. He participated in an Extreme E test in October 2020 alongside Jean-Éric Vergne and Sébastien Loeb. He competed at the 2023 Race of Champions representing Finland with Mika Häkkinen, being knocked out in the Nations Cup and the Champion of Champions tournament.
Bottas became a co-owner of ice hockey team Lahti Pelicans of Finland's Liiga in March 2021, and co-owns coffee roastery Kahiwa Coffee Roasters in Lahti. He co-founded FNLD GRVL, a gravel cycling event in Lahti, and in 2024 raced in the men's 35–39 age category at the UCI Gravel World Championships, finishing 134th of 233. He launched the Valtteri Bottas Duathlon, an annual charity event, in 2017, and his charitable photo and calendar projects with photographer Paul Ripke raised funds for charity, including $150,000 for Movember.
Bottas married Olympic swimmer Emilia Pikkarainen on 11 September 2016 at St. John's Church in Helsinki; the couple announced their separation and divorce on 28 November 2019. Since February 2020 he has been in a relationship with Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell. He has residences in McLaren Vale, South Australia, and Monaco, and a lake house in Finland.
Bottas was World Drivers' Championship runner-up in 2019 and 2020, won the DHL Fastest Lap Award and the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in 2018, the Sky Sports Award for Most Improved Driver in 2014, the Confartigianato Motori Driver of the Year in 2017, and the AKK-Motorsport Driver of the Year in 2019. He has achieved 10 race wins, 20 pole positions, 19 fastest laps and 67 podiums in Formula One.
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