Hakkinen: 'Bottas is the perfect guy to help Alfa Romeo do this'

After a five-year partnership with Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas will try his luck at Alfa Romeo from 2022. His Finnish fellow countryman and Formula One world champion Mika Häkkinen argues that this was the right decision, and sees Bottas making a significant contribution to the team led by Fred Vasseur.

"Valtteri has really proven to be a first class team mate to Lewis, but I am so happy to see him accept a multi-year agreement to join Alfa Romeo Racing from 2022 onwards", Hakkinen stated in his usual column on Unibet.

"He has been a strong part of Mercedes, the team winning the World Championship for Constructors every season.  Being team mate to Lewis is never easy, but Valtteri has pushed hard, never given up and given the team a positive atmosphere", the Finn continued.

Perfect environment

Hakkinen believes Bottas will fit in well with the team and will be able to use his accumulated experience in a positive way: "At Alfa Romeo Racing he has the opportunity to use his enormous experience to help them develop."

The former driver concluded, "With a completely new set of technical regulations in 2022, coming on top of the budget cap which started this year, I know that team boss Frederic Vasseur is determined to achieve some big targets in the future.  Valtteri is the perfect guy to help them do that."