“Sauber is not so different from Mercedes,” Valtteri Bottas reflects on his move from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo
Follow Us
Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo in 2022
Valtteri Bottas, currently driving for Alfa Romeo, opens up about his experience with a move from Mercedes at the start of 2022. Valtteri started his career in Williams and quickly proved his worth by taking up the seat of world champion Nico Rosberg at the end of 2016. Valtteri was driving beside a 3-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at the peak of Mercedes dominance.
Bottas open ups his heart with a critical decision he took at the end of the 2021 season, leaving a championship-winning car for a probable mid-field team. But he anyhow explains the process of him getting used to the car which looked quite a bit at the start but he is now comfortable with it. Valtteri was beside Zhou Guanyu as his new rookie teammate.
Bottas explains the climb Alfa Romeo had this season, “Sauber is a real racing team. Just like Williams before my Mercedes days. The team is obviously smaller than Mercedes, but everyone is fully committed because they love motorsport and want to see success,” said Valtteri.
Also Read: Sebastian Vettel states F1 must “not get lapped” in its push for sustainability
Valtteri Bottas’ move from the top into deep midfield
Bottas didn’t flinch taking hold of the championship-worthy car and taking a few victories in his very first season. Though he struggled a lot with it in the next season after serving a winless season marking his worst season of 2018.
The start of 2019 was a dream for Bottas after winning the very first race of the season and again doing it in the 2020 season but losing out on the championship anyway. 2021 was another tough year for the Finn after only taking one win the whole season and struggling with the W12 for the championship fight.
Coming from a championship-winning car to a team that barely scores points hurts everyone. But Bottas is set with the work the team inputs and could see serious progress with it. “When we scored the first points, the mood completely changed. The boys saw that something is possible this year. Okay, we are not racing for the win, but for the best possible result. In that respect Sauber is not so different from Mercedes,” explained Valtteri.
Bottas currently stands above Fernando Alonso in a much better car and is 9th in the championship table with 46 points.
Stay Updated!
Soham Raj Jain
(480 Articles Published)