Photo: Stellantis
When he’s not busy raising money for charity with nude photos, Valtteri Bottas is driving the wheels off his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car and is now in a position to really help his team evolve in the right direction.
At Mercedes, Bottas was never the no.1 driver, always playing second fiddle to Lewis Hamilton – which is understandable. One is a seven-time F1 world champion and the other a five-time Grand Prix winner. Not exactly equal footing, one might say.
Still, the Finnish driver is thriving at Alfa Romeo, having scored 46 of the team’s 51 points so far this season.
During an interview with Motorsport, Bottas spoke about how much responsibility he has at Alfa Romeo, as well as how he now approaches R&D issues.
“I definitely feel it, that I want to really help push the team in the right direction,” he said. “It makes me also think always twice, ‘OK, is this really the direction we want to go or not?’ It’s really interesting.”
“Even for like, next year’s car, always when I hear updates and everything, for me, it’s really interesting to be so involved technically as well. I can already start to imagine how the car handles.”
When asked whether he felt a change in mindset with regards to car development, Bottas said: “Yes. I never managed to be that involved with Mercedes. It was more like the computer says that this kind of car is going to be the fastest. Most times it worked. But now it’s also nice to have the human effect.”
Human effect or not, Bottas is racking up points like it’s nobody’s business in the 2022 Driver Standings. He is currently ninth, trailing Esteban Ocon by just 12 points. However, he also has Fernando Alonso behind him in P10 with 41 points, and the Spaniard has looked tremendous as of late.
Still, the Finnish driver is thriving at Alfa Romeo, having scored 46 of the team’s 51 points so far this season.
During an interview with Motorsport, Bottas spoke about how much responsibility he has at Alfa Romeo, as well as how he now approaches R&D issues.
“I definitely feel it, that I want to really help push the team in the right direction,” he said. “It makes me also think always twice, ‘OK, is this really the direction we want to go or not?’ It’s really interesting.”
“Even for like, next year’s car, always when I hear updates and everything, for me, it’s really interesting to be so involved technically as well. I can already start to imagine how the car handles.”
When asked whether he felt a change in mindset with regards to car development, Bottas said: “Yes. I never managed to be that involved with Mercedes. It was more like the computer says that this kind of car is going to be the fastest. Most times it worked. But now it’s also nice to have the human effect.”
Human effect or not, Bottas is racking up points like it’s nobody’s business in the 2022 Driver Standings. He is currently ninth, trailing Esteban Ocon by just 12 points. However, he also has Fernando Alonso behind him in P10 with 41 points, and the Spaniard has looked tremendous as of late.
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