Billionaire Claims to Have Helped Bottas to Mercedes and Was Then Ignored

After Valtteri Bottas spent three seasons at Sauber (formerly Alfa Romeo), he has failed to secure a permanent full-time seat in Formula 1 for the 2025 season. Finnish billionaire Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, who previously supported the driver, claims he is surprised that he was "previously ignored by him" after his team discontinued financial support for Bottas during his first Mercedes contract.

Valtteri Bottas will start the 2025 season as the third driver for Mercedes. The Finn was rumored to be a candidate for the upcoming season, but the team ultimately decided on Gabriel Bortoleto. The driver will now return to his former team Mercedes, where he was a teammate of Lewis Hamilton from 2017 to 2021. He will be the third driver for the German team behind full-time drivers George Russell and the youngster Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

We brought him to Mercedes

According to billionaire Aarnio-Wihuri, who previously supported the driver financially with the Wahuri Group, he is now surprised at how much the driver is ignoring him, he told the Finnish magazine Urheilulehti. The billionaire explained that they ceased supporting Bottas once his income reached one million euros.

"It's not a problem for me. But I wonder about someone whose entire career depended on us - he has broken off all contact. After all, we brought him to Mercedes; without us, he never would have made it," he began. "I don't know [why]. Probably his character. He has not said a single word when he came to me," he continued, although the two have been in the same place several times.

"In the world, we have often seen each other, but we have not [greeted]. As far as I know, his career is practically over - in practice. And he is getting on in years," the billionaire concluded, as Bottas now returns to Mercedes. On the other hand, one of Bottas' representatives responded with the words: "There are always two sides to the story."

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