“Incredible how quickly it changed”: Valtteri Bottas recalls the immediate change of weather prior to the start of the Belgian GP sprint
Valtteri Bottas has spoken on the weather change that he faced during the Sprint race of the Belgian Grand Prix on Satuday.
In a social media post by Alfa Romeo, he stated how 'incredible' the weather change was, and how it stirred up the entire grid. He said:
"We got some racing done, the weather was nothing different with this weekend so far and it's incredible how quickly it just changes but I think would made most out of the screen from what we started."
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was drenched right before the Sprint was supposed to start, and this saw the drivers running four laps behind the safety car. When the race started, many drivers, including Valtteri Bottas, pitted to change to the medium tires because the track had dried up to quite an extent.
Others, including race leader Max Verstappen, were out for another lap on the wet tires, before coming in for a tire change the following lap.
This made Valtteri Bottas battle for a few places and finish P13 in the Sprint, earning no points, but gaining a few places. He said:
"There's always going to be tricky but we made a few places by boxing early for the inter and then actually the pace felt good."
Alfa Romeo reveals contract speculations of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo have been running the same lineup since the 2022 season, when both of their former drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, were replaced by Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Although the drivers have performed fairly well, the team has been losing out in terms of points because of their apparent loss in performance.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo's representative, recently revealed that a contract talk has not yet been made with Guanyu and that only Bottas has a confirmed seat for the upcoming season.
This would put the Chinese under some pressure, however, a talk about the same would be made during the season break, which is right after the Belgian Grand Prix. Sportsmole quoted him saying:
"Of course we are looking for improvement and opportunities. There will be time after the summer shutdown to sit down with Zhou and look at what will be the best solution for both of us."
He added that the team is expecting to keep both drivers in their lineup for 2024 as well.
"Our target is to keep both drivers in our team next year but, of course, there must be all the elements in place to have a win-win situation."