Bottas: Never say never on rallying career after F1

Published on 30 Dec 2019 14:36

By: Dieter Rencken & Coilin Higgins

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas has opened up on a possible future career in rallying after Formula 1, saying that he cannot completely rule out a switch to the sport after F1.

Bottas recently claimed his first rally victory at an event at Circuit Paul Ricard, driving a Citroen DS3 WRC. He also entered the Arctic Lapland Rally last January, finishing fifth in a Ford Fiesta WRC.

Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen also had a brief spell in the WRC in 2010 and 2011 before returning to F1 with Lotus in 2012.

MORE: Video: Watch Bottas drive a rally car at Circuit Paul Ricard

"It's too early to say," Bottas said. "You never know what's ahead in life or what's gonna happen so but at the moment I like it. It's a fun thing for me to do and I like it.

"I also think it's good for me to try it and to have something different for my skills. I haven't thought that far and I still see myself in Formula 1 for quite some time.

"There is still lots to give and lots to achieve for sure. One day, I'll see what I want to do but for the moment I find it a lot of fun and I would say never say never."

'No brainer' for 2021 with Mercedes

Bottas also admitted that he thinks 2020 will be an interesting season thanks to the number of drivers' contracts expiring at the end of the year.

Bottas himself will be out of contract with Mercedes at the end of the year, as well as Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

But Bottas said that he would hope to continue at Mercedes into 2021 as he feels that he works really well with the team and that Mercedes encourages him to become a better driver.

"I think it's going to be an interesting season for sure. I can't remember a time where so many people are expiring with contracts. Of course, me, like every other driver will look at all the possible options.

"Now, if I could decide on my future for 2021 it would be a no brainer to continue with this team. I really enjoy it here, we are performing better and better and I am becoming a better driver all of the time."

F1 News Valtteri Bottas Mercedes

Total queries: 5
Total time: 0.073070049285889
time	sincestart	caller	annotate	bt	desc
	0.000494				instantiate query log (0Q - total module time: 0.00063181s)	""
	0.001133				boot (0Q - total module time: 0.00010586s)	""
	0.001242				translation-init (1Q - total module time: 0.00102282s)	""
0.00028896	0.001965	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Redirect.php:105(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Entities/Redirect.php:112(findByOrigin) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Redirects.php:108(getRedirectOrFalse) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:115(checkForDBRedirects) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT redirects.id, redirects.origin, redirects.referer FROM redirects WHERE redirects.origin = :origin ORDER BY id	{"origin":"\/en\/news\/f1\/253263\/bottas-never-say-never-on-rallying-career-after-f1"}
	0.002267				controller::news/f1/253263/bottas-never-say-never-on-rallying-career-after-f1 (3Q - total module time: 0.06116486s)	""
0.00037313	0.002975	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:389(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:127(findNextArticle) {"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId > :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId ASC LIMIT 1	{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 06:10:00","articleId":253263,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
0.02968192	0.003369	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:318(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:128(findPrevArticle) {"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId < :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId DESC LIMIT 1	{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 06:10:00","articleId":253263,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
0.00037718	0.034159	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Connection.php:1323(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/Entity/BasicEntityPersister.php:750(executeQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/Entity/BasicEntityPersister.php:768(load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/EntityManager.php:521(loadById) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/EntityRepository.php:197(find) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:335(find) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT t0.CmsAccountId AS CmsAccountId_1, t0.CreateDate AS CreateDate_2, t0.AccountName AS AccountName_3, t0.Password AS Password_4, t0.LastName AS LastName_5, t0.FirstName AS FirstName_6, t0.PrivateMail AS PrivateMail_7, t0.F1TodayMail AS F1TodayMail_8, t0.PhoneNumber AS PhoneNumber_9, t0.Address AS Address_10, t0.PostalCode AS PostalCode_11, t0.City AS City_12, t0.BirthDate AS BirthDate_13, t0.JobTitle AS JobTitle_14, t0.FavouriteDriver AS FavouriteDriver_15, t0.FavouriteTeam AS FavouriteTeam_16, t0.Interests AS Interests_17, t0.WorkStartDate AS WorkStartDate_18, t0.WorkingHours AS WorkingHours_19, t0.Disabled AS Disabled_20, t0.LastOnline AS LastOnline_21, t0.RetrievalId AS RetrievalId_22, t0.Notes AS Notes_23 FROM CmsAccounts t0 WHERE t0.CmsAccountId = ?	[166]
	0.063436		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Result (0Q - total module time: 0.00013614s)	""
	0.063575		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Photos (0Q - total module time: 0.00010109s)	""
	0.063678		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Trending (0Q - total module time: 0.00010204s)	""
	0.063781		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Reply (1Q - total module time: 0.00573516s)	""
0.00042605	0.064223	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Connection.php:1323(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query/Exec/SingleSelectExecutor.php:31(executeQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query.php:325(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1212(_doExecute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1166(executeIgnoreQueryCache) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:901(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php:192(getResult) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/CommentVotesManager.php:46(getCommentVotesByVoteIp) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Modules/News/Reply.php:101(getCommentVotesByIP) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:115(internalRender) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:89(captureOutput) {"function":"F1T\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\ModuleBase","object":{"_amp":false},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:92(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigExtensions/ModuleRenderer.php:35(fetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:549(renderModule) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_mainContent) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:62(displayBlock) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_content) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:715(displayBlock) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:45(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:46(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:390(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/TemplateWrapper.php:45(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php:318(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigRenderer.php:115(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:98(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:79(renderViewFile) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:261(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT c0_.CommentId AS CommentId_0, c1_.Vote AS Vote_1 FROM Comments c0_ INNER JOIN CommentVotes c1_ ON (c1_.CommentId = c0_.CommentId) WHERE c0_.ArticleId = ? AND c1_.VoteIp = ?	[253263,"216.73.216.130"]
	0.069520		cacheAble: no		module:Sidebar (0Q - total module time: 0.00035095s)	""
	0.069873				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00001192s)	""
	0.069887				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpschedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.069890		cacheAble: yes		module:GpSchedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00012708s)	""
	0.070018				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::results (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.070023		cacheAble: yes		module:Results (0Q - total module time: 0.00008893s)	""
	0.070115				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::testcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.070118		cacheAble: yes		module:TestCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00008821s)	""
	0.070207				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.070212				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)	""
	0.070214				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::relatednews (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.070216		cacheAble: yes		module:RelatedNews (0Q - total module time: 0.00008702s)	""
	0.070306				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::whoischatting (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.070310				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.070313				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00000119s)	""
	0.070315		cacheAble: no		module:Poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00160503s)	""
	0.071922				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000596s)	""
	0.071928				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000119s)	""
	0.071930				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)	""
	0.071933		cacheAble: yes		module:GpCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00012302s)	""
	0.072058				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::driver_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.072062		cacheAble: yes		module:Driver\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00008893s)	""
	0.072153				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::team_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.072157		cacheAble: yes		module:Team\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00008798s)	""
	0.072247				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::linkedKeywords (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.072253				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpsidebarnavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)	""
	0.072255		cacheAble: no		module:GpSidebarNavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00036502s)	""
	0.072622		cacheAble: yes		module:Layout\Footer (0Q - total module time: 0.00008893s)	""
	0.072713		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Breaking (0Q - total module time: 0.00034595s)	""
	0.073063				done	""

Bottas: Never say never on rallying career after F1

'No brainer' for 2021 with Mercedes

Trending news

Replies (2)

Dert38

JuJuHound

Grand Prix of Belgium

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Race / Startgrid

Grand Prix of Belgium

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

World Championship standings 2023

Test calendar

Related news

Bottas and Hamilton pay tribute as Williams family step away from F1

Bottas: Win at Barcelona possible with a good start

Verstappen: Third place is the maximum the team can achieve for the moment

Disappointed Bottas accuses Mercedes of 'sleeping' after losing victory

70th Anniversary GP: Verstappen denies Hamilton of victory at Silverstone

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Driver profile

Team profile