Valtteri Bottas was able to underline his good form in Imola and with fifth place he achieved Alfa Romeo’s best result in more than two years. “That was fun,” says the Finn after the difficult Formula 1 race in Emilia-Romagna.
Especially after switching to slick tires, Bottas found a good rhythm and was able to push every lap like in qualifying, as he says. “Especially from the middle to the end of the stint we had a really good performance and a strong pace.”
It wasn’t until he ran into George Russell’s Mercedes towards the end of the race that he could feel his rear tires getting a little graining. “So I couldn’t quite get him, but maybe next time!”
It would have been a satisfaction for Bottas if he could have overtaken his successor at Mercedes – exactly at the point where he had cleared him last year. Although he tried not to think about it, Bottas admits that the scene was still in his head.
“Mercedes and George were my motivation throughout the race, to push every lap and hopefully get the chance in the end – but in the end I didn’t quite make it,” he says angrily. This was also due to a problem with the pit stop, where Bottas lost around ten seconds to the competition. “Without that, things might have turned out differently,” he says.
Bottas: I don’t know the reasons for Mercedes’ problems
Bottas is pleased that Alfa Romeo can currently compete with Mercedes. “We had better race pace today, but I don’t know why they have such problems,” he says. “I don’t know their technical details, but I just focus on our things and what we can improve.”
He finds it surprising to see Mercedes so weak. “I never expected that, but they still get points. But hopefully we can get more than them.”
However, Bottas’ race could have ended early, because after the collision between Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo at the start, Bottas drove into the rear of the McLaren. “I was worried at first because it was a pretty hard hit, but fortunately I hit it at the right angle,” says Bottas.
“Suddenly Sainz came from the right and Ricciardo hit him. I didn’t have time to react and just hit her,” he says. “I was surprised that I was able to continue quite well and in the end didn’t lose any places at the start.”