Finn Valtteri Bottas made his Formula 1 debut for Williams at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, having spent the previous two seasons as test driver with the team, taking part in Friday practice sessions at Grands Prix.
He arrived at Williams having been Formula Renault Champion, British Formula 3 Champion and GP3 Champion in 2011.
Returning to racing in Formula 1 in 2013 after a year testing full-time with the team, he endured a slow debut season in a difficult Williams FW35, one meagre high point being outscoring his more experienced team-mate Pastor Maldonado in the standings.
He and new team-mate Felipe Massa were to fare much better in 2014, where a string of strong races mid-season gave the two Williams drivers opportunities to win, were the team to have been bolder with strategy rather than being content with double podium finishes (easy to say with the hindsight of 2018!).
Valtteri finished the season in 4th place behind only the all-conquering Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Rosberg, and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, and ahead of both Ferraris and four-times World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
The status quo was maintained in 2015 with both Bottas and Massa being retained by Williams for a second season. Two more podiums and a fifth place in the standings followed, but many people felt that Williams had missed an opportunity to kick on after the successes of 2014.
An unremarkable 2016 followed, a podium in Canada being a highlight of a season spent largely in the midfield: Bottas finishing between 5th and 10th 13 times, but Bottas had done enough for Mercedes to come knocking when trying to find a partner to Lewis Hamilton when World Champion Nico Rosberg announced his shock retirement.
Since joining Mercedes, Bottas has scored three victories, and finished third in the 2017 World Drivers Championship, helping Mercedes to the World Constructors Championship. He continues to push for wins and pole positions in his quest for the World title.
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