Bottas: I never seriously considered leaving F1

After his departure from Mercedes was confirmed, Walteri Bottas said he had thought about leaving F1 but never seriously considered it.

In 2022, Mercedes chose George Russell as Lewis Hamilton's partner. In the first half of 2021, Bottas and Russell competed fiercely, which led to tense moments between the two. Mercedes team manager Toto Wolff will secure another seat for Bottas before officially announcing the decision, while Alfa Romeo is the destination of the Finn's multi-year contract.

In the 2021 season, Alfa Romeo is ninth out of 10 teams, but nevertheless, Bottas knows that next year's order should be different and he wants to build a team in his own way.

But since Mercedes' decision was early, he talked about how the time it took to prepare for his transfer helped him.

Bottas told reporters: "Yes, next year will be different. Luckily, this change happened very early, so I actually had quite a bit of time to work on things and think about the role change. ”

He won the Turkish Grand Prix in 2021, but he has been trailing Lewis Hamilton throughout the season. Given the difficulties he's encountered, Bottas admits he's been wondering if it would be better for him if he had a different career path, but Bottas said he never seriously considered retiring.

He said: "Of course, I also asked myself, do I want this, or should I try to do something else?" It was also an option, but I never seriously considered leaving F1 because deep down in my heart I still love F1 and the many things associated with it. Again, it's a new long-term project, that's my motivation and I'm going to do everything I can to help the team and I think it's going to be very rewarding if we get some good results. ”