
Businessman Antti Aarnio-Wihuri has said Valtteri Bottas “stopped all contact” when his backing stopped, claiming he “would never have got” to Mercedes without his company’s support.
The 84-year-old claims to have invested €20million into Bottas’ career, and while not wanting to downplay his career achievements, believes he will not make it back to the grid as it stands.
Former Valtteri Bottas backer claims ‘his career is over – in practice’
Aarnio-Wihuri is listed by business magazine Forbes as being worth an approximate $1.5billion, heading the Wihuri Group, which employs 5,000 people in multiple sectors including aviation, packaging and food wholesale.
Wihuri previously stated they ended their support of Bottas in 2019, when he began earning a significant amount of money as a Mercedes driver, but Aarnio-Wihuri claims he has not been in contact since.
“We stopped supporting Bottas when his personal income exceeded €1million, and we felt it didn’t make sense to support a guy with that level of income,” Aarnio-Wihuri told Finnish publication Urheilulehti, as quoted by Ilta-Sanomat.
“It’s not a problem for me. But I do wonder about someone whose whole career depended on us – he stopped all contact.
“After all, we got him to Mercedes, he would never have got there without us.”
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When asked why contact stopped, he added: “I don’t know. Probably his character. He hasn’t said a word a day when he’s come up to me.
“In the world we’ve seen each other a lot, but we haven’t [greeted] each other.”
Bottas rejoined Mercedes as reserve driver for the 2025 season as he looks to plot a way back onto the grid for 2026.
The Finn sees his Formula 1 career as having unfinished business after his departure from Sauber, but his former backer does not quite see it the same way.
“My understanding is that his career is over – in practice. And he’s getting on in years,” he added.
Bottas was unavailable for comment when contacted by the Finnish publication, but his legal representative is quoted in response as saying ‘there are always two sides to the story’, while thanking his supporters.
Having spoken about his future previously, Bottas is keen to keep as many avenues open as possible for Formula 1’s regulation changes in the 2026 season.
He does not want to have more than one season on the sidelines if he can help it, and with Cadillac joining and a new team principal confirmed in Graeme Lowdon, he believes that may represent an opportunity.
“Well, there’s going to be two more seats,” Bottas told RacingNews365 in December.
“They need drivers, they need experience. So, of course, that’s very, very interesting.
“We have good relations with Graeme. I don’t think it makes it more difficult for me, if anything, he’s seen what I can do and bring to the team. So I see that as a possibility.”
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