Valtteri Bottas is used to responding to setbacks and pressure, a situation any driver who has been paired with an all-time great in Formula 1 will be familiar with.
But with Mercedes on the back foot in its world championship fight on top of Bottas’s annual battle to secure a deal for 2022 – whether it’s with Mercedes or, if George Russell gets the nod, elsewhere – the psychological stresses are more testing than ever.
Four-times world champion Alain Prost, who knows more than most what it takes to thrive under mental strain in F1, recently picked up on this in an interview with the F1 Nation podcast.
“Valtteri is psychologically in a very difficult situation,” said Prost.
“I like Valtteri as a person and he must be quite tough to be in a team like this.”
Prost, speaking even before Mercedes had a difficult French Grand Prix, went on to pick up on the extra strain on the whole team, which has led to mistakes, as part of this difficult psychological landscape.
Bottas, who has yet to finish higher than third in 2021 in what is statistically the worst start of his five seasons at Mercedes, picked up on similar themes when The Race put Prost’s comment to him ahead of the Paul Ricard race.
The impact of Mercedes having such a tough fight this season can’t be underestimated. While Bottas is used to the difficulties of going up against Hamliton every weekend but has generally bounced back well, this just adds an extra pressure on top.
“If I look back at the last four years with the team, of course there’s been ups and downs,” said Bottas.
“Overall, I’ve been comfortable. The team obviously demands a lot from you, which is expected, and I’m demanding a lot from the team.
“All we want to do is to win and if we’re not winning, it’s not comfortable for anyone and that makes us work even harder.
“If I look back to this start of the season, which has been far from ideal for many reasons and many unlucky events, it’s never a comfortable feeling when you don’t have a season that you’d like to have so far.
“But that’s how it is. Everything in life and sport always goes up and down so I know that ups are on the way and the team knows that as well. I feel there’s a good support from the team, which makes it easier to handle.”
It seemed the French Grand Prix weekend might be one of those ups for Bottas after outpacing team-mate Hamilton throughout practice. Although he qualified 0.142s off Hamilton, it still represented a recovery from his Baku struggles.
But his race unravelled, leading to his forthright radio message complaining about the team not listening to his recommendation of two-stopping
There are two simple ways to interpret that. One interpretation is it’s a sign of Bottas cracking, the other is that it’s simply part of his stated intention of attempting to be more forthright.
The reality is probably a blend of the two and multiple other factors – especially as he did have a point – but inevitably team principal Toto Wolff took the positive interpretation, albeit in a relatively curt way.
“I loved it that he speaks his mind now and doesn’t internalise,” said Wolff.
“We still believe the one-stop was the better strategy. But fighting so strong after the stop, we just stressed the tyres too much to make it all the way to the end.”
That Wolff used the word “internalise” is significant as that’s been something Bottas has also been working on. But it’s also worth noting that Bottas didn’t help himself with the lock-up on his first set that contributed to his early stop and his tyre management struggles.
While, in his defence, he had to push hard at the start of his stint, his tyre management relative to Hamilton – who is outstandingly good at it – has always been a weakness.
“I still think that he delivered a good race because he was right up there with Lewis and Max for large parts of the race,” said Wolff when asked by The Race about this weakness.
“And I think that the development goes in the right direction to be honest.
“Yes, there is a gap in tyre management, but I see a real progression with how Valtteri tackles the races, and qualifying we never doubted.”
Bottas’s qualifying form is certainly his strongest suit. He has outqualified Hamilton three times this year out of seven races but with his opposite number at Red Bull, Sergio Perez, hitting form his race performances are being tested more than ever.
But to come back to Prost’s point, Bottas psychologically has shown himself to be strong. As he did at Ricard after his bad Baku weekend, he’s very good at resetting and coming back even if it’s abundantly clear that he’s not suddenly going to become a consistent Hamilton-beater.
Everyone has their limit, but the ever-resilient Bottas has at least shown his determination to fight for his F1 future. But with as many as 16 races still to go, this is a season that is testing him like no other – and one that will only get harder.
