Bottas on how it all started and how he starved himself.

      Valtteri Bottas shared his life story on the pages of The Players' Tribune, and his account turned out to be quite candid and touching, while also maintaining a somewhat humorous tone characteristic of the Finnish racer. This American online publication specializes in autobiographical narratives told in the first person by sports heroes. Among other things, Valtteri recounted the difficulties he had to overcome during his career in motorsport, which has now lasted for three decades.

      Here’s how his monologue begins: “Where to start? I guess from the moment my life changed… Finnish province. Cold. Northern reindeer. Although there were actually no reindeer. Mostly factories and plants all around. Little Valtteri. I didn’t have the same hairstyle as now; I just had a bowl cut. Not a great hairstyle.

      It was an ordinary day; my father and I went grocery shopping, I was bored, but when we were driving home, I saw a sign on the side of the road that read: ‘Go-Kart Championship.’ I don’t think I even knew what that was. No one in my family was into racing, but for some reason, that sign beckoned me. I literally begged my father to turn around and take me to the karting track. I wonder how everything would have turned out if he had said no? Maybe I would have become a plumber or a model showcasing underwear.

      But my father turned the car around. When I saw the boys racing on the track, I thought it was the coolest sight! It looked like a game of Mario Kart. I was eager to ride too, but there was a big problem: I was small, and my feet couldn’t reach the pedals.

      – Do you have a smaller kart?

      – This is the smallest kart we have.

      My father even brought some kind of cushion and placed it behind my back, but my foot still couldn’t reach the gas pedal. I remember being very upset because it was late autumn, just before the Finnish winter began. Time moves ten times slower in childhood, doesn’t it? In general, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I just want to sleep for the next four months, like a bear hibernating.’

      Every morning I asked my father, ‘Dad, have I grown yet? I feel like I’ve gained a centimeter overnight.’ My grandfather was a farmer who grew oats, and he told me, ‘If you eat oatmeal every day, I promise you that by spring, when the snow melts, you will be able to reach the pedals.’

      To be honest, I thought it was nonsense, but since I was in a desperate situation, I ate that oatmeal. My mom even got tired of cooking it, and then I learned to make it myself. I ate so much of it that it was coming out of my ears. But my grandfather was right: I grew. When the snow melted, the karting track reopened, I got behind the wheel of the smallest kart, and I could finally reach that damn pedal…”

      That’s how Valtteri Bottas’s passion for racing began, but since the story told by the Finnish racer Cadillac could fill a full multi-page autobiography, let’s move on to the part that can be considered one of the main ones:

      “When I debuted in Formula 1, I was only focused on racing; nothing else mattered at all. It didn’t seem like a problem, but one day it became a problem. In 2014, it became a big problem.

      I won’t cry; dramatic music isn’t needed either. But I started to starve myself.

      It all started with a simple diet. After my debut season, the winter break began, and at Williams, they anticipated that the 2014 car would be too heavy. So the team suggested I lose five kilograms. When a goal is set for me, it becomes a real obsession. When I’m told to lose 5 kg, I start thinking, ‘Why not ten? That way the car will be even faster.’

      It ended with Bottas developing a neurosis over this; he was completely exhausted not only physically but also mentally. And only after the tragic incident in Suzuka in the fall of 2014, which took the life of Jules Bianchi, did Valtteri decide to seek help from a psychologist…

      “I didn’t tell the team or my teammates anything; even my family didn’t know about it. You can’t show any weaknesses in the paddock. Only my coach and doctor knew what was happening. It took me almost two years to restore my normal well-being. It’s funny in a way because if you just watch my races, it probably wasn’t noticeable from the outside that something was wrong with me. And then in 2016, when I fully recovered, a real breakthrough happened for me in the world of Formula 1.

      I will never forget that day. In Abu Dhabi, I was working out in the gym, and then my coach, looking at his phone screen, said, ‘Wow, big news! Nico announced his retirement.’

      It was a shock for everyone: ‘Nico Rosberg? Really?’

      The coach confirmed that it was indeed true and showed me his phone. I immediately rushed to my hotel room, called Toto Wolff, and said, ‘Toto, it’s me. I’m ready.’

      He replied, ‘Valtteri, listen, I know what you’re capable of, but calm down. Everyone is calling me right now.’

      I repeated that I was ready, and he asked me to give him a few days to think. He thought longer than a few days, but in the end, I got a seat at Mercedes. My dream came true…”

      The rest is history. More than ten years have passed since then; Valtteri has been a two-time world vice-champion, is considered one of the most experienced drivers in the championship, and this season he is racing for a new team, Cadillac.