In his final season at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas recorded a single victory at the Turkish Grand Prix. Here’s Bottas’ 2021 Formula 1 season in statistics!
RACE STATS
| Championship Position: | 3rd |
| Total Points: | 226 |
| % of teams’ points scored: | 37% |
| Points Scoring Grands Prix: | 15 |
| Best finish: | 1st (Turkey) |
| Number of starts: | 22 |
| Number of non-finishes: | 4 |
| Number of finishes: | 18 |
| Laps Led: | 79 |
| Laps Complete: | 1134 |
| % of Laps Complete: | 87.43% |
| Distance Covered: | 5723.14km |
| Laps Raced in the Top 10: | 971 |
| Laps Raced in the Top 5: | 781 |
| Laps Raced in the Top 3: | 527 |
| Races gained positions in: | 6 |
| Races lost positions in: | 6 |
| Finished where started: | 6 |
QUALIFYING STATS
| Q3 Appearances: | 22 |
| Q2 Exits: | 0 |
| Q1 Exits: | 0 |
| Best Qualifying Position: | 1st (x4) |
| Worst Qualifying Position: | 10th (Azerbaijan) |
| Average Qualifying Position: | 3.68 |
| Average Grid Position: | 5.59 |
| Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: | 16 |
| Beaten by team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: | 50 |
| Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: | +0.079s |
A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
2021 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
Qualifying in third place for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas became the first driver to make 80 consecutive Q3 appearances. In the race, Bottas recorded his 57th top three finish. He equalled the podium tally of his Mercedes predecessor Nico Rosberg.
2021 EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas qualified in eighth place at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, making it only the fourth race in Bottas’ tenure at Mercedes in which the Finn qualified outside of the top six. In the race, following a collision with George Russell, Bottas recorded his first retirement since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.
2021 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX
With his seventeenth pole position, Valtteri Bottas equalled Jackie Stewart’s total of poles. It made Rene Arnoux the only non World Champion with more poles than the Finn, with Bottas having now overtaken both Stirling Moss and Felipe Massa’s tallies. Bottas went on to finish in third place, recording his 58th podium finish. It put him just two top three finishes away from entering the top ten of most podium finishes in Formula 1 history. Bottas led nineteen laps of the race, making the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix the 200th F1 race in which a Finnish driver has led.
2021 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas qualified in third place at the Spanish Grand Prix. This was the first time since 2017 that Bottas has not qualified on the front row at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Bottas went on to make his fifth Spanish Grand Prix podium appearance, and equalled Nigel Mansell for eleventh in the all-time list of most podiums in Formula 1.
2021 MONACO GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas recorded his second retirement of the 2021 season following a pit stop issue. It marked Mercedes’ first retirement in Monaco since Michael Schumacher retired from the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix. Bottas was the first driver to retire from third on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix since Kimi Raikkonen in 2006.
2021 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas qualified in tenth place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. That equalled his worst qualifying result since joining Mercedes. He also qualified tenth at the 2018 Australian and Belgian Grands Prix. Bottas recorded Mercedes’ worst qualifying result in Baku since Lewis Hamilton crashed out in Q3 and qualified tenth in 2016. In the race, Bottas failed to score.
2021 FRENCH GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas became the first Mercedes driver to fail to qualify on the front row at Circuit Paul Ricard since the French Grand Prix’s return to the calendar. This was his fourth third place qualifying result of the 2021 season; his third in the last four races. He finished fourth in the race. Bottas is yet to gain a position from where he has started at the French Grand Prix.
2021 STYRIAN GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas recorded his 60th podium finish at the Stryian Grand Prix, equalling Nelson Piquet as the driver with the tenth most podium finishes in Formula 1 history. Bottas also overtook David Coulthard as the driver to have taken the most top three finishes in Austria. Bottas recorded the first podium finish from fifth on the grid in Austria since Rubens Barrichello in 2003. The Finn equalled Barrichello as the driver with the most third place finishes at the venue.
2021 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas recorded his 61st podium finish, moving ahead of Nelson Piquet to tenth in the all time list of most podium finishes in Formula 1. Bottas has finished on the podium at all of the last five Red Bull Ring races. His latest podium here saw Finland overtake Brazil as the nation with the second-most podium finishes at the Spielberg venue.
2021 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas’ third place at the 2021 British Grand Prix made him the fifth driver to have scored 100 points at the Silverstone circuit. He also ensured that this was the sixth time that both Mercedes cars have finished on the podium at Silverstone.
2021 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
For the first time in his career, Valtteri Bottas recorded a first lap retirement. This was Bottas’ third retirement of the 2021 season and his first non-finish in Hungary since his debut season. It was also the first retirement for Mercedes at the Hungarian Grand Prix since Nico Rosberg failed to finish in 2013.
2021 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
Finishing in twelfth place, Valtteri Bottas failed to score at the Belgian Grand Prix for the first time since his maiden season in 2013. Bottas is the first Mercedes driver to fail to score at the Belgian Grand Prix since Lewis Hamilton retired from the race in 2014.
2021 DUTCH GRAND PRIX
With his 63rd podium finish, Valtteri Bottas overtook David Coulthard as the driver with the ninth most podiums in F1 history. Rubens Barrichello is now the only non-champion with more top three finishes than the Finn. Bottas is only the second Finnish driver to finish on the Dutch Grand Prix podium. Keke Rosberg also finished third at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix.
2021 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas set the fastest qualifying time and won Sprint Qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix – but he started from the back row of the grid due to a power unit penalty. Having started nineteenth on the grid, Bottas finished in third place. His was the first podium finish recorded from nineteenth on the grid since Alex Wurz finished third at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Bottas’ third place made the 2021 Italian Grand Prix the 400th race in which a Finnish driver scored points. Finland is the seventh nation to reach the milestone. Bottas made up sixteen places in the Italian Grand Prix – equalling his personal best for most positions gained in a race. He also made up sixteen places after being demoted to the back of the grid at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
2021 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX
Finishing in fifth place, Valtteri Bottas failed to score a top four result at the Russian Grand Prix for the first time since his retirement from the 2015 event. Bottas’ fifth place is the first time a Mercedes driver has failed to finish on the podium at the Russian Grand Prix since Lewis Hamilton’s fourth place in 2017.
2021 TURKISH GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas inherited pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix from his team-mate. This was Bottas’ eighteenth pole, which saw him overtake Jackie Stewart for eighteenth on the list of Formula 1’s most prolific polesitters. Significantly, Bottas’ latest pole saw him equal Rene Arnoux as the non-champion with the most poles in F1 history. The Finn went on to win the race, taking his first victory since the 2020 Russian Grand Prix and becoming the 35th different driver to record ten or more Grand Prix victories.
2021 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas made up three positions from where he started to finish sixth in the United States Grand Prix. It was the first time he finished outside of the top five at the United States Grand Prix since he finished sixteenth with Williams in 2016.
2021 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX
On Saturday, Valtteri Bottas became the tenth consecutive different polesitter at the Mexican Grand Prix. He finished only fifteenth in the race, which is the worst ever result for a polesitter who has not retired from the Grand Prix. The previous worst result for a polesitter was fourteenth, recorded by Nico Rosberg at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That’s also the last time that the polesitter finished the race but failed to score. This was only the third time that the Mexican Grand Prix polesitter has failed to finish in the top six at the event. The only other times it has happened were in 1965 and 2018, when Jim Clark and Daniel Ricciardo retired. Clark also retired from the race in 1964, but was classified in fifth place.
2021 SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas secured pole position at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix. It was the 20th pole of his career, equalling Damon Hill for the fifteenth most poles in F1 history. Bottas went on to finish third, returning to the podium for the first time since the Turkish Grand Prix. He led three laps of the race, leading in Brazil for the first time in his career.
2021 QATAR GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas recorded his fourth retirement of the 2021 season at the Qatar Grand Prix. It’s the highest number of retirements he’s recorded in any season of F1 which he has competed in. In his previous four seasons with Mercedes, Bottas recorded only six retirements in total.
2021 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas qualified in the top ten for the 100th consecutive time. It’s a feat which has been achieved only twice previously, by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Finishing third after passing Esteban Ocon on the finish line, Bottas finished on the podium at a 27th different circuit, equalling Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso for fourth in the list of most different circuits at which a driver has finished in the top three.
2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
With sixth place in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas ensured he never failed to reach Q3 in any of his 101 appearances with Mercedes. Sixth place is Bottas’ worst qualifying result in Abu Dhabi since he qualified eleventh with Williams here in 2016, which coincidentally is the last time he failed to reach Q3.