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Valtteri Bottas revealed he starved himself at the start of his F1 career to meet weight requirements for his team's car. The Finnish driver shared this vulnerable moment in a letter online, reflecting on his journey in Formula 1.
Valtteri Bottas has opened up on a dark moment in his career at the start of the 2014 season (Getty Images)
Valtteri Bottas has opened up about his F1 career in a vulnerable letter online, revealing he starved himself during his time at Williams to alleviate weight concerns with the teamâs car.
The popular Finnish driver, 36, has returned to the grid this year after a year out with Cadillac, F1âs newest team. The 2026 campaign is Bottasâs 13th in Formula 1.
The 36-year-old started his career with Williams in 2013 before moving to Mercedes in 2017, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton amid a period of all-out dominance for the Silver Arrows. He then concluded his first stint in the sport with three seasons at Alfa Romeo/Sauber from 2022 to 2024.
Bottas impressed in his early years, quickly registering podiums for Williams but in a letter for The Playersâ Tribune released on Wednesday, the Finn has revealed his extreme and dangerous approach to improving performance at the start of his second season in 2014.
âOK, now the silly Finnish guy has to get a little bit serious,â Bottas wrote. âI wonât bore you, donât worry. I am not going to cry here. We donât have to play the dramatic music. But yeah⊠basically, I started starving myself.
Valtteri Bottas revealed that he starved himself during the early part of his F1 career to meet weight concerns with his team's car.
Valtteri Bottas started his F1 career with the Williams team in 2013.
Valtteri Bottas is currently in his 13th season in Formula 1.
Valtteri Bottas has driven for Williams, Mercedes, and Alfa Romeo/Sauber during his F1 career.

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âIt started with a simple diet. After my rookie season, we went on winter break, and the Williams team was predicting an overweight car for 2014. This was back when there was no seat-plus-driver weight minimum, so the team suggested that I lose five kilos. If you put a clear goal like that in front of me, I am going to obsess over it.
âWhen you tell me five kilos in two months, my brain thinks, âFive? Why not 10? We can make the car even quicker.â So I started eating steamed broccoli and a bit of steamed cauliflower for almost every meal. I can still smell the broccoli. Wet. Green. Plain. My god.
âIt was like a game to me. I would wake up and weigh myself every morning, and when Iâd see the number go down, Iâd feel a deep satisfaction. I would come back from a 90-minute run and eat my little bowl of steamed broccoli, just to have enough energy so I could go for another 90-minute run.
âI had this GPS watch, and my coach could track my training, my heart rate, everything. I knew he would think I was burning myself out, so I started taking the watch off and leaving it at home before my second session. The game became completely consuming.â
Bottas acknowledged that he felt like a âdrug addictâ at the time but now, in hindsight, says that mentality was âcompletely delusional.â
Bottas celebrates a podium finish in Austria in 2014 (Getty Images)
He adds: âAfter two months of spiralling, my nerves were shot. I would wake up at 4am on my own, no alarm. My heart would be beating out of my chest. Iâd have all this energy, and Iâd think, âThis is so great. I have so much extra time in the day to do all my training.â
âI was like a drug addict. âIâve never felt better!â Ha. Completely delusional. The actual reason I was waking up so early was that my body was in starvation mode. The worst part about it was that I would look in the mirror in the morning and I would see my silhouette, and I was so satisfied that my reflection was getting slimmer. It was not about racing anymore.
âI donât even know how much weight I lost in those two months. I looked sick. And of course, after everything I put myself through, we came back from the break and started testing the car, what do you think happened? The damn thing was actually underweight. Welcome to F1.
âI started having these intense foggy spells. Not full-blown panic attacks exactly, but whenever I was in a crowd, I would start to feel dizzy and just âŠ. weird, like I had to get out of there. I wanted to be alone, or in the car.
âThe strangest thing is that when I was on the grid, everything felt fine.â
Bottas is back on the F1 grid this season with Cadillac (PA)
Bottas says the turning point arrived after Jules Bianchiâs ultimately fatal crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix â and he decided to see a psychologist.
âMy psychologist actually made an interesting observation about me,â Bottas penned. âHe said, âYou know Valtteri, you donât seem to have any interests outside of racing. Nothing else that brings you joy. Youâre almost like a machine.â
âHe was right. My whole identity was the car.â
Bottas, who has 10 grand prix wins and 67 podiums to his name, will race this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix as F1 returns following the enforced five-week spring break.