"Less 'company' and more racing team"- Valtteri Bottas on transition from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas revealed that a change in context is important to understand how happy he is at Alfa Romeo. The Finn was driving a Mercedes last season, fighting for wins, pole positions, and podiums. This season, however, that has changed, as Bottas is at Alfa Romeo fighting to score top-10 finishes and get some points.
In an interview with Motorsport, he was asked how he was able to keep himself motivated. Bottas put it down to the fact that there was just a change in context, and everything else remained the same. He explained:
“It is an environment with less pressure, the context in which I am now is less ‘company’ and more racing team, but everyone’s motivation is the same. It was very nice to start the season right away by scoring some points in Bahrain, I think that weekend gave an extra boost, the team understood that there would be other races where we would be able to finish in the top-10.”
Picture perfect moments. 📸👀
#ItalianGP https://t.co/lzXhobiOta
Valtteri Bottas further added that:
“That ‘boost’ is still there, when we don’t get points I see the team disappointed, and that’s the right spirit. Then, obviously, the goals are different than those I had to reach last year, but in the end the approach it’s the same, in 2021 the target was to win, today it’s the top-10.”
Alfa Romeo needs more staff: Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas claimed that he understands the kind of limitations that come with a long-term project like at Alfa Romeo. He also talked about how there were still things that needed to be worked on.
Family day at the factory. ❤️
Great to have the chance to spend a day with everyone working so hard to get us racing. https://t.co/ZhbsSPo8Xn
While Valtteri Bottas was satisfied with how the season had gone, he felt that more personnel being added to the team next season was going to make a huge difference. He said:
“Ours is a long-term project, we are focused on next season, even if we have some updates that should arrive in the Grand Japan Award. Among the things we have learned during this championship are also the reasons that led us to start well and to lose some ground race after race.”
He further added:
“One of the problems we encountered is related to the production speed of different components, the team has taken this aspect very seriously, we are aware that we need more resources because we found ourselves having projects brought to the wind tunnel but not realized for lack of staff. Next year we will have more staff available and it will certainly be an important step for the team's growth.”
While the situation is still grim at Alfa Romeo, what does stand out is the team's progress this season. The team languished at the bottom of the table last season and has since shown immense improvement with the new regulations.