Valtteri Bottas has revealed how the 2018 season with Mercedes proved to be so arduous and challenging that he even contemplated departing Formula 1 altogether.
Bottas went into his sophomore season with Mercedes aiming to mount a title charge, but he ended up a sizeable 161 points behind then team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn’s prospects were hampered through the nascent rounds as an ill-timed Safety Car in China and a late puncture in Baku cost him all but certain race victories.
However, Bottas’ greatest blow came when he was told to hold position behind Hamilton in Germany and then made to relinquish the lead to his team-mate in Russia.
Bottas, who remained with Mercedes until the 2021 season concluded, has divulged that particular winless campaign was so gruelling that he considered quitting F1.
But the current Sauber driver opted to retain his position and a dominant drive at the season-opener in Australia was a “turning point” in overcoming his mental slump.
“There’s been many lessons in this sport,” Bottas told Pitlane Life Lessons. “I’ve gone [through] so much.
“I’ve gone to a phase that I almost quit my career because I was fed up with the F1 world and I thought it was cruel to me.”
Asked when that exact moment was, Bottas responded: “That was the end of ’18.
“Somehow I managed to pick myself up and win the first race of ’19. So that was the turning point for me.”
Bottas has explained how that dark point served to change his perception towards managing low points as he now compartmentalises setbacks that he experiences.
“I think in the end I understood myself that sometimes you need time, sometimes you need to step back, really look at the big picture,” he expanded.
“And that’s quite often what I use nowadays in life. If there’s a tiny little setback somewhere, I try to just take a step back and look at the big picture, ‘Okay things are actually quite okay’.
“I’ve got family, they’re healthy, I’m still driving a race car what I love, I’ve got a roof on my top.”
Bottas has been made to manage a tough season this term as he remains without a point in the opening 14 races as Sauber has struggled with an uncompetitive car.
The 10-time F1 race winner’s contract will expire once the season ends and it remains in the balance whether he will be handed a renewal to partner Nico Hulkenberg.
Bottas was believed to have been in talks with Williams over a possible return to the team he started his F1 career with, but Carlos Sainz has since taken that position.
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