Valtteri Bottas keeps a genuine Formula 1 car inside his home, but the most remarkable part of the story is how it got there. The 2014 Williams FW36 was placed inside the Finnish driver’s house while the building was still under construction, before the rest of the property was completed around it.
Bottas revealed the unusual story during a visit from Belgian YouTubers Average Rob and Arno the Kid to his home in Nastola, Finland. As soon as the guests enter, they are met by a large glass wall with the Williams displayed on the other side, surrounded by trophies, helmets and other memorabilia from his career.
Valtteri Bottas explains why his house was built around the Williams
The first question from the visitors concerned the obvious issue: how did a complete Formula 1 car end up inside the house?
Bottas explained that Williams gave him the car as a gift and that, when it arrived, the property was still being built. The FW36 was therefore positioned in its permanent place before construction was finished.
“We had to put the car here and then build the house around it,” Valtteri Bottas said, adding that he had never previously shown the space publicly.
The Williams FW36 has special meaning for Bottas
The car displayed inside the house is a 2014 Williams FW36, one of the most important Formula 1 cars in Bottas’s career. It was the model with which he secured his first F1 podium, finishing third at the Austrian Grand Prix behind Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
The FW36 also represented a major turnaround for Williams. After finishing ninth in the 2013 Constructors’ Championship with just five points, the British team climbed to third place in 2014 with 320 points.
Bottas contributed 186 of those points, scoring six podiums and finishing fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. The Finnish driver therefore has one of the defining cars of his Formula 1 career permanently displayed at home, preserving the machine that helped establish him as one of the championship’s leading drivers.
Valtteri Bottas’s father even cleans the F1 car
The visit also revealed an unusual detail about the “maintenance” of the Williams. Bottas explained that his father helps clean the house, including the Formula 1 car itself.
The two have a particular arrangement: Bottas allows his father to attend Formula 1 races in person, while his father helps take care of the property.
The story was told casually as the visitors looked over the Williams and the extensive collection of trophies and helmets displayed around the house.
Lewis Hamilton helmet carries a special message
Among Bottas’s collection is also a helmet belonging to Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes team-mate for five seasons. The helmet carries a special dedication in which the seven-time Formula 1 world champion describes Bottas as the best team-mate ever.
The video, published on Average Rob’s YouTube channel, also shows other parts of Bottas’s home, including the sauna. Yet the Williams remains the centrepiece of the visit.
Bottas wanted to keep a genuine Formula 1 car inside his home so much that the building itself was completed around it, leaving one of the most significant cars of his career permanently on display behind glass.
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