Check out Valtteri Bottas's career profile as the Finnish driver prepares to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes after Nico Rosberg's shock retirement.<br /><br />After climbing the Euro F3 ranks, Bottas won the GP3 Series in his rookie year in 2011.<br /><br />The Finn had to wait patiently for his F1 debut as Williams test driver in 2012 before graduating to a race seat.<br /><br />Despite an uncompetitive rookie year Bottas rode through to produce a potent partnership with Felipe Massa.<br /><br />Bottas became Nico Rosberg’s replacement at Mercedes after the German’s shock retirement from F1.<br /><br />Did you know<br />- Bottas is married to Olympic Finnish swimmer Emilia Pikkarainen<br />- Holds the unofficial F1 speed record of 235mph set in Baku during qualifying for the 2016 European GP<br />- Mentored by his childhood hero and two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen<br /><br />Visit the Crash.Net website here - http://www.crash.net<br /><br />Follow us on social media<br /><br />Twitter: https://twitter.com/CRASH_NET
