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Written by Jason Barlow
Top Gear: You"ve just met one of the original Flying Finns, Hannu Mikkola. Were people like him household name superstars when you were a kid?Valtteri Bottas: The guys in rallying and F1 have always been admired in Finland, especially among kids and when you"re in karts. For me, Mika Hakkinen was the inspiration to get into F1, and made me work harder. I was six when I started karting, and nine when Mika won his first title.TG: So, that first win in RussiaVB: It"s very special. It really is. It took a few days to realise it. There was a bit of pressure from SebastianTG: At least he didn"t drive into you.VB: [laughs] No. The main thing was to try to keep it together. I had that lock-up and flat-spotted the tyre, and the vibration was pretty bad. In fact, I struggled to see my braking marks after that. I went corner-by-corner, lap-by-lap, concentrated on my lap, didn"t worry too much about what was happening in my mirrors.TG: How much can you actually see in those, in the heat of battle?VB: Just about enough. Enough to know the distance to the car behind. But as I say, I didn"t really want to know. During the last ten laps, I asked the team for more silence on the radio, to minimise the communication so I could just get on with it.TG: There was immense pressure coming into the team, replacing the World Champion. And you must be thinking about next year now.VB: It"s been great, I"m really enjoying it, and I think we"re still getting stronger as a team. My target is to have a long-term relationship with Mercedes, although there is no confirmation yet. Even though the last few years have been mega for the team, there"s still a lot more to achieve. I have Nico"s mechanics, I don"t know how it was in detail before, but all I can say is that there"s a good team spirit and we"re working together with Lewis.TG: Do you share anything?VB: Yes. Everything. All the telemetry. Because it"s better for the team.TG: Are the 2017 cars as awesome as they look?VB: [smiling] They are. For me, it"s more fun than before. To get to the limit now is a bit harder because of the bigger loads. The first couple of runs testing at Barcelona, going through turn three flat-out, was amazing. They"re more tricky in general, because there"s more downforce, they"re a lot quicker in high-speed corners which we all like but it"s more difficult to follow another car because you lose so much downforce. It depends on the track. The car starts sliding more, and you can overheat the tyres. F1 aero is so much about the flow of the air out of the front wing, the vortices generated in that area that are directed to the floor and wherever it needs to go, and once you lose there you also lose the rear end.TG: But you"re a Finn so you"re naturally good at going sidewaysVB: [laughs] I don"t mind going sideways, but F1 cars aren"t really made for that.
Date written: 3 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8347
Top Gear: You"ve just met one of the original Flying Finns, Hannu Mikkola. Were people like him household name superstars when you were a kid?Valtteri Bottas: The guys in rallying and F1 have always been admired in Finland, especially among kids and when you"re in karts. For me, Mika Hakkinen was the inspiration to get into F1, and made me work harder. I was six when I started karting, and nine when Mika won his first title.TG: So, that first win in RussiaVB: It"s very special. It really is. It took a few days to realise it. There was a bit of pressure from SebastianTG: At least he didn"t drive into you.VB: [laughs] No. The main thing was to try to keep it together. I had that lock-up and flat-spotted the tyre, and the vibration was pretty bad. In fact, I struggled to see my braking marks after that. I went corner-by-corner, lap-by-lap, concentrated on my lap, didn"t worry too much about what was happening in my mirrors.TG: How much can you actually see in those, in the heat of battle?VB: Just about enough. Enough to know the distance to the car behind. But as I say, I didn"t really want to know. During the last ten laps, I asked the team for more silence on the radio, to minimise the communication so I could just get on with it.TG: There was immense pressure coming into the team, replacing the World Champion. And you must be thinking about next year now.VB: It"s been great, I"m really enjoying it, and I think we"re still getting stronger as a team. My target is to have a long-term relationship with Mercedes, although there is no confirmation yet. Even though the last few years have been mega for the team, there"s still a lot more to achieve. I have Nico"s mechanics, I don"t know how it was in detail before, but all I can say is that there"s a good team spirit and we"re working together with Lewis.TG: Do you share anything?VB: Yes. Everything. All the telemetry. Because it"s better for the team.TG: Are the 2017 cars as awesome as they look?VB: [smiling] They are. For me, it"s more fun than before. To get to the limit now is a bit harder because of the bigger loads. The first couple of runs testing at Barcelona, going through turn three flat-out, was amazing. They"re more tricky in general, because there"s more downforce, they"re a lot quicker in high-speed corners which we all like but it"s more difficult to follow another car because you lose so much downforce. It depends on the track. The car starts sliding more, and you can overheat the tyres. F1 aero is so much about the flow of the air out of the front wing, the vortices generated in that area that are directed to the floor and wherever it needs to go, and once you lose there you also lose the rear end.TG: But you"re a Finn so you"re naturally good at going sidewaysVB: [laughs] I don"t mind going sideways, but F1 cars aren"t really made for that.
Date written: 3 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8347
