‘I’ve laughed a lot more since I signed for Alfa!’ Valtteri Bottas reveals driving with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes was like a ‘knight to the throat’
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Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton
Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas opened up about his past term with Mercedes. The Finn will be racing with Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season. Valterri Bottas will be racing in his 10th season as a Formula One Driver. The 32-year-old Recently signed for Alfa Romeo replacing fellow Finn and former World Champion Kimi Raikonnen and shall be partnering up with Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou.
Bottas will be enjoying a fresh start with the Italian team from the 2022 season onwards. Since joining Mercedes, Bottas has aced 10 race wins and more than 50 podiums. He was a part of five constructors’ championship wins for Mercedes, and finished runner-up twice in 2019 and 2020 in the driver’s championship.
Valtteri Bottas: “I can say that I’ve laughed and smiled a lot more since I signed for Alfa”
Teaming up with the rookie, the workload and pressure to perform will surely not be the same as his time with Mercedes. The 8-time Constructors champions had considerable demand from the Finn during his time at Brackley. He revealed that his time at Mercedes was “very exhausting”.
Sharing his experience in the podcast “Talking about me” Bottas revealed what it was like to be the teammate of Lewis Hamilton. “If you feel like you have a knife to your throat, your head is not doing very well,” revealed Bottas.
Recalling the incident of fellow German-Finnish racer Nico Rosberg, Bottas commented, “Lewis and Nico fought very hard and it even got a bit political. Now I can identify with him. I can say from experience that it’s not easy to survive against Lewis.” Rosberg was Hamilton’s teammate for 4 years and shared a bitter rivalry that ended with his World Championship win and retirement from the sport.
Looking forward to a new challenge, Bottas admitted that he has enjoyed his switch to Alfa. “I can say that I’ve laughed and smiled a lot more since I signed for Alfa,” said Bottas. Ahead of the Pre-season testing, Bottas is excited to meet his new team and rookie teammate Guanyu Zhou.
“You can only function very well as a team. Therefore, I will fully support Zhou. You can only function very well as a team. Therefore, I will fully support Zhou,” said Bottas confirming that he is looking forward to racing with the Chinese driver.
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Tejas Venkatesh
(366 Articles Published)