Bottas takes on role of mentor: 'Proud of you, man'

Valtteri Bottas finished in P6 during his first race for Alfa Romeo F1 Team and his teammate Guanyu Zhou finished in P10. On Instagram, the Finn posted a story where he expressed how proud he was of his rookie teammate.

Bottas looks set to take on the role of teacher within the team. Bottas is just coming off of a spell at Mercedes with five Constructor titles in a row and is, in all likelihood, a welcome stable driver at Alfa Romeo. The Finn's experience will not only help the team move forward, but also debutant teammate Zhou. The Chinese driver was criticised prior to the season for being a so-called "paydriver" who had "bought" his seat in F1 with sponsorship money, but he finished P10 in Bahrain immediately.

Zhou indicated a few months ago that he hoped to learn a lot from the experienced Bottas and Bottas seems to have taken that seriously. Indeed, on Instagram, the Finn sounds fatherly proud of his young teammate. He posted a photo that read, "I'm proud of you, man. On your first points in your first race. And of course to Alfa Romeo Orlen for today. Let's keep pushin." Like Haas F1, Alfa Romeo's speed was surprising in Bahrain. Indeed, even without the failure of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, Bottas would have scored points. That was certainly not a given for the team in recent years.