Bottas wants to battle Mercedes: 'For now the goal'

Valtteri Bottas has been under contract to Alfa Romeo since this season. Whereas the team was happy with the points last year, the Finnish driver hopes to achieve more with the racing stable this season.

Bottas tried for years at Mercedes to compete with Lewis Hamilton for the world title, but fell short of his rival. At the end of last season, Mercedes and the driver parted ways, after which Bottas embarked on a new adventure with Alfa Romeo.

The new season started hopeful for Bottas. In the opening race in Bahrain, he managed to finish sixth. Although he was forced to retire early a week later in Saudi Arabia due to problems with his car, he knows what he has to do in the coming months.

Partly due to the new regulations, Alfa Romeo has managed to compete with the subtop. It means that Bottas can suddenly take the fight to his old team. Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, he tells Formule1.nl that he hopes to finish in the top five every race: "That should be the goal for now."