Bottas enjoys new role at Alfa Romeo: 'It definitely makes a difference'

Valtteri Bottas seems completely in his element at Alfa Romeo. After five seasons at Mercedes, the Finn has found his place at the Swiss team. In Bahrain, GPblog spoke to Bottas at length about his new team in an exclusive interview.

New start at Alfa Romeo

Bottas began his Formula 1 career at Williams, where he managed to impress alongside Pastor Maldonado (2013) and Felipe Massa (2014-2016). When Nico Rosberg suddenly left after winning his world title, Toto Wolff pointed to the young Finn as an ideal replacement. Bottas won ten races at Mercedes and finished second in the world championship in 2019 and 2020. 

Bottas had hopes of becoming a world champion, but in 2021, he finally had to accept that Lewis Hamilton was simply a better driver. Since realising that, he has almost seemed like a new person. Especially since his move to Alfa Romeo, the Finn has completely blossomed.

"I think with experience and in this sport, you learn so much from every single year about yourself and how to deal with things. I think a big difference for me is now being involved in a longer-term project. So, having just one stress factor less, for example, your contract, it actually can make a difference. And it's always about the atmosphere as well as the people you work with. I think the main reason is probably just I'm getting older and I've learned not to take some things too seriously," Bottas said in a conversation with GPblog.

Pressure at Mercedes

Asked what exactly this atmosphere is within Alfa Romeo, Bottas replied as follows: ''It just feels like a race team. Everyone has a passion to be better, to race. And yes, sometimes change can be quite refreshing. Definitely a less pressure environment than what I'm used to a few years back."

That pressure of having to perform at Mercedes is now gone, but besides that, the 33-year-old driver's role has also changed. After making his debut at Williams and clearly being brought in by Mercedes as second-in-command alongside Hamilton, he is now for the first time in a situation where a team got him because of his experience. He is expected to lead Alfa Romeo and Bottas likes that.

Bottas as leader

"The role you have in the team for sure makes a difference. It's quite natural as well because my teammate was a rookie last year. And I came from a team that was winning at the time. But I really like the different kind of role, being a bit more involved in things, more information, passing through me as well. And already in a sense with some things being involved with next year's car. So that's something I like."

That new role and the new team also taught Bottas other lessons. ''I can't say one particular thing. It's just that everything's been feeling pretty natural. But for sure, racing in the midfield is different than in the front. And it's sometimes even more difficult. And you need to be more dynamic with the strategy. In the front, you're normally fighting for one, two, maximum three cars. But in the midfield, it could be seven or ten cars that you need to look out for. So it's quite a different game and the racing is really tough."

For Alfa Romeo, the 2023 Formula 1 season started on a positive note right away. Bottas and Zhou made it to Q2 together and Bottas even managed to drive towards the points in the race. A P8 earned Valtteri four points. Zhou had to settle for 16th place, but he still took the fastest lap time from Pierre Gasly. Alfa Romeo did so mainly to snatch the point from rivals Alpine.