Valtteri Bottas with Aussie girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell (Image: Getty)
Valtteri Bottas’s long and eventful career could be drawing to a close after being for 2025. The popular Finn, who spent five years as team-mate at , has been with Sauber, which will become Audi from 2026, since 2022.
With German manufacturer Audi already pulling the strings behind the scenes, another veteran and Brazilian F2 star Gabriel Bortoleto will make up a new-look line-up from next year, leaving no room for Bottas.
The 35-year-old could still have a future in the sport and a as reserve driver has been mooted while he has also been linked with the second seat at amid ’s continued struggles. Bottas has also plenty going on outside of F1, with a burgeoning relationship with an Olympic athlete and several fancy homes…
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Net worth
Having been in F1 for more than a decade, Bottas has naturally built up a sizeable net worth, estimated to be around £16million. The 10-time grand prix winner is believed to have been earning around £7-8million a year at Sauber.
Olympic star girlfriend
Bottas clearly has a thing for sporty women. In 2016, shortly before his move to , he got married to long-term girlfriend Emilia Pikkarainen, a fellow Finn and former Olympic swimmer, who competed at the 2008 Games in Beijing at the age of just 15.
The butterfly specialist also swam at London 2012 and Rio 2016 without winning a medal. In 2019, the couple announced they were divorcing, with Bottas citing the “challenges my career and life situation bring”.
He is now in a relationship with another Olympian, Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, with the pair regularly spotted together at grand prix weekends. The 36-year-old from Adelaide competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and rides for World Team Canyon–SRAM in the UCI Women’s World Tour.
Tiffany Cromwell is a world-level cycle racer (Image: Getty)
Lapland home
Like most F1 stars, Bottas has a base in Monaco, as well as other parts of the worlds. But unlike his contemporaries, Bottas boasts a home in Lapland, which is presumably getting rather busy at this time of year.
The luxurious lodge, situated on the edge of a lake in northern Finland, is said to boast a floor-to-ceiling glass bar, sauna facilities and a spacious garage. As you would expect, there’s a racing simulator too.
Red Bull comments
Bottas’s F1 race options for 2025 are thin on the ground, although there is a potential opening amid the never-ending chaos in the driver pool. Perez has a contract for 2025 but it would be a major surprise if he is retained given his dire form this season.
Liam Lawson and , of the sister team, are options, although doubts persist over how they would cope with the pressure of being team-mate. Bottas knows all about having an illustrious stablemate having worked with Hamilton for so long. Therefore, he could be a sensible choice for .
Bottas himself would clearly relish a return to a top team, even as a number two driver. Speaking at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, he said: “You know, I could see myself filling that role. I’m really confident I would do a good job.”
Inside Valtteri Bottas’s plush Lapland lodge in northern Finland (Image: valtteribottas/X)
Hinting that contact has been made with , he admitted a move to the Milton Keynes is unlikely though. He added: “But for now the answer has been no. I think there’s certain people or a certain person within the organisation that is against me for some reason, but that’s their loss.”
The fact Bottas is managed by team principal , who has frosty relationship with counterpart , may not being helping his chances of getting the drive.
If a full-time F1 drive doesn’t materialise, Bottas would not be short of offers from other series, like IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship.