Valtteri Bottas is as dedicated to his job as the next Formula 1 driver, but away from the track the Finn's life at Alfa Romeo has given him a lot more freedom, and he's happy about that.
After five years with the mighty Mercedes team during which he won all ten of his career wins in Formula 1, Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo-Sauber at the start of 2022.
On the sporting front, the Finn's transfer to Hinwil was obviously a downgrade, but an inevitable one if he wanted to remain in F1.
But in terms of Bottas' life away from the race track and his mental comfort, leaving Mercedes for Alfa took a lot of corporate weight off his shoulders and perhaps a few restraints, leaving him freer to take advantage of his downtime as he sees fit.
"Once COVID kind of went away, traveling got even easier now again, but I can say I’ve been living fully between the races as well!" Bottas told RACER's Chris Medland.
"Of course I still work with the team — we do all the meetings and I go to the factory often — but then when I’m off I do lots of cool things.
"Previously I almost felt bad doing fun stuff, almost had a feeling that I’m not allowed to have fun! But as I’ve learned more about myself, I do way more things that I want to do instead of what I think I’m supposed to do.
"So I try to do things that give me good energy. I think part of it is for sure that I’ve learned about myself — I’m maybe a bit easier on myself and able to follow what I want to do."
Case in point, Bottas traveled to Argentina between the Mexican and Brazilian races, to enjoy outdoor life and the wilderness which switched his mind off from the pressures and constraints of his day job in F1.
"In the gap between Mexico and Brazil I stayed in Argentina in a few different places," he said. "Then when I got to Brazil I felt so fresh mentally because I’ve been doing other kinds of things.
"Even though the end of the year is hectic, a small break can make a huge difference, to me at least.
"When I get to the track then it’s all about racing and focusing fully on the weekend, but when it’s time off then it’s time off."
Bottas' maiden campaign with Alfa started off strong but then underwent a slump as the Swiss outfit struggled to keep its new-generation car on track in terms of development.
But overall, the 33-year-old thoroughly enjoyed his first season with Alfa, even though he didn't have "huge expectations".
"I’ve enjoyed it," he said. "Especially the fact that we made some progress across the last couple of races it was a good feeling. Definitely a less pressurized environment, no doubt, because I had time to prepare myself and reset the goals and make targets.
"For the first year together I didn’t have huge expectations. It’s difficult to predict — especially after the winter testing — how it was going to be.
"So actually it’s been a really nice ride. It’s a different dynamic racing in the midfield for sure but I enjoy it a lot.
"Also having a bit more security in the seat and knowing we’re in this together for the long term takes a lot of the extra pressure off, you know?
"I think the future for this team also looks really exciting. A lot of things happening, so I definitely want to be part of it."
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