Valtteri Bottas Is Thriving In Leadership Role With Alfa Romeo

When Valtteri Bottas announced he was joining Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, expectations were modest. As Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team replaced him with George Russell, there were few quality Formula 1 rides available.

But Alfa Romeo quickly became the best option for Bottas, who’s won 10 Formula 1 races in 10 years. The two-time championship runner-up is in an entirely new role this year, and it’s one he’s embracing.

“I’ve settled in really well,” Bottas said in a Zoom call on Wednesday. “Since the beginning, I’ve had an appreciation for the team and a lot of respect. For the first time in my career, I’m the more experienced driver on a team. There’s a bit more responsibility and a bit more of a say in certain things.

“It’s been really natural because it was always going to happen that I would be the old guy on a team and have a young teammate (Zhou Guanyu). He’s a rookie and has a lot of things to learn. He’s been asking a lot of questions. Even though I still have a few years ahead of me in F1, I’m starting to be up there a bit in age.”

The move from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo has been drastic. Last year, Bottas won a race and finished third in the championship standings. This year, he hasn’t earned any podium finishes or led any laps. His best result is fifth, which came in Italy in April.

But this is a year of growth, Bottas explained. He knew it would be a difficult year, and he mentally reset his expectations.

“It’s been better than I thought initially, because the initial thought of not going to fight for the race every single weekend is not the same,” Bottas said of the team change. “But I’ve had time to adjust and to mentally prepare for this new chapter in my career. I’m really taking this on as a project.

“Of course, I had to reset my goals and expectations. But I’m fine with it because that’s the motivation and the rewarding feeling comes with progress and seeing more speed. If we can get to our targets in the future, that’s going to feel like winning.”

Bottas is enjoying the new experience. He firmly believes now that Alfa Romeo has identified some of its weak points, it will grow considerably next year with a new car.

Additionally, he said the team itself will be growing thanks to expansion plans that will help them “be as big of a team as any other organization in the future.”

“We had a difficult winter testing, so we didn’t have as much mileage as we could,” he said. “When you don’t get the mileage you need to in testing, some things will fail on you. Sometimes, it’s been from our side as a team and some of it has been from the power unit side. When you have those issues during the weekend, then you’re always coming from behind.”

This weekend, Formula 1 returns to Circuit of the Americas, where Bottas holds the record for the fastest lap.

At COTA, Bottas will be sporting a helmet with the Hyland logo featured on it. Hyland is working with Alfa Romeo this year in a partnership that enables the Formula 1 team to compare the speed of the F1 cars to the Ohio-based organization’s performance.