{"id":639274,"date":"2026-04-30T20:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639274\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:09:13","slug":"valtteri-bottas-says-stronger-mental-health-support-in-f1-helped-him-open-up-about-his-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639274\/","title":{"rendered":"Valtteri Bottas says stronger mental health support in F1 helped him open up about his battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Formula 1<\/a> driver Valtteri Bottas believes the support in motorsports for mental health struggles has greatly improved during his career, and that gave him the courage to extensively detail his own personal battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sport has changed a lot, the world has changed a lot,\u201d Bottas said Thursday, a day after he discussed his own struggles in an essay for \u201c The Players\u2019 Tribune<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s better ways for people to communicate and share their issues, or anything from the past. It\u2019s definitely a more welcoming environment for everyone in F1, but I think also the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottas said he was approached by the outlet late last year and began the process of writing the essay titled \u201cBorn Crazy\u201d that was released ahead of the rookie Cadillac team making its North American debut this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix. Bottas, who is from Finland, and Sergio Perez of Mexico are the drivers for the team that considers itself the only true American team in the global series.<\/p>\n

He said he agreed to open up to the publication in an effort to show the intense personal battles drivers work through in the ultra-competitive racing world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to highlight that we\u2019re all humans and no one is perfect. Everyone has their struggles or their issues,\u201d Bottas said. \u201cHopefully somebody can learn from other people\u2019s mistakes. Part of life is learning about your mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a wingman broke Bottas<\/p>\n

In the piece, Bottas revealed that during his time as a driver for Mercedes he was pushed to the brink of depression and despised F1 when he was relegated to \u201cwingman\u201d for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He also disclosed an earlier two-year struggle with an eating disorder.<\/p>\n

Bottas spent five seasons as Hamilton\u2019s teammate following a 2017 promotion from Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst season was good,\u201d he told the Players\u2019 Tribune. \u201cI started the 2018 season thinking that I was the best driver on the grid, and that I was going to win the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he instead went winless and sacrificed track position often to help Hamilton win the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know how badly I wanted to just say no?\u201d he said. \u201cBut I had to be a good teammate. I let him through, and of course he had an incredible season. He was the champion. I was \u2018the wingman.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day, I have complicated feelings about it. I don\u2019t know how to answer when people ask me about it, because Lewis is an incredible driver and a friend. I have no bad blood with Mercedes \u2026 but the whole situation almost made me walk away from the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation nearly broke him mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old me came back. The negative Valtteri. The obsessive Valtteri. I was reading too many comments on social media, and I started to become very self-loathing,\u201d he said in the essay. \u201cThankfully, I had the tools from my experience in 2014 to understand what was happening, and I had plenty of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early career eating disorder<\/p>\n

The 2014 reference was to Bottas\u2019 battle with an eating disorder that \u201ccompletely consumed\u201d him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a game to me. I\u2019d wake up and weigh myself every morning, and when I\u2019d see the number go down, I\u2019d feel a deep satisfaction,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter two months of spiralling, my nerves were shot. I would wake up at 4 a.m. on my own, no alarm. I was like a drug addict, \u2018I\u2019ve never felt better!\u2019 Ha. Completely delusional. The actual reason I was waking up so early was that my body was in starvation mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he had struggled to find any joy and was \u201cjust so angry and negative about everything.\u201d Bottas said his then-wife asked him if he feared the risks of racing, but he\u2019d become so detached that he told her \u201c\u2018No. If I die, I die.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that moment, I realized that I genuinely did not care what happened to me anymore,\u201d he revealed. \u201cNot long after that, I decided to get some help. I started seeing a psychologist, and I finally admitted out loud that I was unwell. It took me almost two years to feel like myself again.\u201d<\/p>\n

His descent into depression began again in 2018 when it became clear he would only ever be in the shadow of Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was definitely depressed and burnt out. I hated racing. During that winter break before the 2019 season, I did not think that I was going to come back,\u201d he said. \u201cThat winter break, I made the decision that I was going to retire. Then I went for a walk one day in the forest. I walked in the deep snow for maybe three hours and I walked out of those woods with a completely different mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Help is out there<\/p>\n

Bottas said Thursday he isn\u2019t sure what sort of reaction his essay has received because it had only been released the day prior and he has avoided social media. But he hopes the essay shows others there are resources available and the stigma surrounding mental health has changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole sport has evolved a lot. Everything is more professional,\u201d Bottas said. \u201cI also think when it comes to coaching, physical coaching, mental coaching, that level also has gone up. There is more support available. There\u2019s better packages for drivers when it comes to mental coaches. I think people are less afraid of seeking for help, seeking for support, because these things are now talked about more.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n

Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas believes the support in motorsports for mental health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-639274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}