Obviously the shock of 2014 was Daniel Ricciardo, taking the only three non-Mercedes victories of the year, but not far behind the Australian was his old Formula Renault rival Valtteri Bottas who won the 2008 Eurocup championship by three points from Daniel.
In 2013 there were signs of potential from the young Finn as he took third on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix and a points finish in Texas, but inevitably an underperforming FW35 lacked pace and was unable to highlight his talent.
Valtteri Bottas 2014 Season Review
Melbourne marked the start of the 2014 championship, a gearbox change meant he started the season on the back foot in 15th place, but he climbed his way up the order in the early stages before hitting the wall, this caused a safety car and another pit stop for the Finn. A second impressive recovery drive meant Valtteri eventually finished fifth but a possible podium finish slipped through his fingers.
A controversial weekend awaited our Williams driver at the Sepang circuit, in qualifying he impeded Ricciardo’s lap handing him a three place grid penalty so he was never going to have an easy weekend starting from 18th on the grid. Team orders were the hot topic on Sunday as another fight through the field meant Bottas was right behind team mate Felipe Massa in the closing stages of the race, when the Brazilian was asked to let the Finn through he ignored the orders meaning Valtteri finished eighth behind his team mate.
An impressive qualifying saw the Finn start third on the grid in Bahrain but a poor start and a near crash with fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen during the race meant he could only finish eighth. Another respectable qualifying in China meant seventh on the gird but contact into turn one with Nico Rosberg hindered his progress in the race and finally finished in the same position.
A fourth on the grid and fifth in the race at Catalunya was another strong showing from the Williams driver. However, the Monaco grand prix was a race to forget for Valtteri as he retired due to an issue with his power unit.
Another strong qualifying performance of fourth for the Finn at Montreal did not translate in the race as he finished in seventh position. But, the best weekend of his Formula 1 career awaited him at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He was pipped to pole position by his team mate who was a single tenth faster, he then bettered Massa on the Sunday and kept the Silver Arrows honest by claiming his first ever F1 podium in third place.
Another fantastic drive from the young Finn saw him finish in second place from 15th on the grid at Silverstone. This was followed by another impressive second place at Hockenhiem, a race in which he kept eventual 2014 champion – Lewis Hamilton – behind him continuing his impressive form.
Budapest looked to be yet another great weekend for Valtteri as he qualified third and was battling for the lead into turn two. But poor race pace and bad luck with safety cars meant he could only finish eighth. A return to form at Spa-Francorchamps saw him finish in third after a fantastic move round the outside of Sebastian Vettel at Les Combes.
At the legendary Monza circuit, Bottas qualified his FW36 in third on the grid. However, a poor start put him back into the pack and out of the points, a good recovery drive meant he finished in fourth just behind his team mate. Singapore proved to be a testing weekend for our Williams driver as he qualified in eighth and finished 11th after his tyres dropped off in the closing stages.
Valtteri qualified in third yet again making for a strong start to his Suzuka weekend, but rain on Sunday didn’t suit the Williams cars so he finished the race in sixth just ahead of his team mate. It was so nearly a first career pole at the Sochi Autodrom as the Finn went fastest in the first two sectors but by the last two corners he had run out of grip and had to settle for third. He held second for most of the race but eventually finished where he started in third.
More impressive qualifying form at Austin meant third on the grid but he struggled during the race and could only convert it to fifth. Fourth in qualifying and seatbelt problems on Sunday saw Bottas finish just 10th at the Brazilian Grand Prix – one of few disappointing weekends in 2014 for the Finn. Valtteri rounded off the season with another podium place starting in third and finishing in third at the Yas Marina circuit.
Overall it has been a very successful second year in F1 for the young Finn, and a welcome return to the front of the field for team mate Felipe Massa and the rest of the Williams team. It has also been a year in which Valtteri has been tipped to be a future world champion by some big names of the sport, plus rumours of talks with Mercedes and Ferrari mean there is a very exciting future ahead for Bottas.
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