Going from a top team, Mercedes, to a mid-grid structure, Sauber-Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas of course expected to experience real changes in his daily work.
However, as he confided, the Finn finally found his new environment more familiar than expected – especially since he had evolved, before Mercedes, in a perhaps even more modest structure, Williams.
“It’s different, but not that much. Sauber is a real racing team. A bit like Williams before my time at Mercedes. »
“The team is smaller than Mercedes, of course, but everyone is fully engaged because they love motorsport and want success. »
However Valtteri Bottas began to see the limits of Alfa Romeo in winter testing: when his Sauber was one of the least reliable single-seaters – a poor reliability that was to pursue him in the first half of the year, especially on Fridays.
“The biggest change I experienced was between practice and the first race. We started testing with a lot of problems. »
“It demoralized part of the team. »
“When we scored the first points, the mood changed completely. The guys saw that anything was possible this year. Ok, we don’t race to win, but to get the best possible result. In this regard, Sauber is not so different from Mercedes. »
In previous years, Valtteri Bottas was racing in the top 4 or 6 with Mercedes; now he is fighting in the middle of the grid. Are these two different F1s?
« There’s a lot more going on in the midfield, of course. »
“You have more opponents. And everything is unpredictable. The performance of different teams fluctuates a lot from race to race. You never know who you’ll be up against next. There is always action in the race. The strategy is also not very clear, because you have to orient yourself against many opponents. It is much easier to catch up or lose time. You need to keep your eyes open and consider more possibilities. »
Was it hard to come to terms with the fact that he may never win Grands Prix again?
» Not really. I’m a realist and I knew that dreaming of victories would be a bit of a stretch. The team had two difficult years. The objective should be to consolidate. »
“I had enough time to set myself new tasks and mentally focus on them. I’m part of a team and everyone wants to progress. »
Moreover, Valtteri Bottas takes great care not only to be a driver, but a fully-fledged ‘team player’ at Hinwil.
“I feel more like an equal member of the team, but I’m not the driver that everything has to be built around. »
“I haven’t been here long, but we have already spent a lot of time together in testing. It was like a speed race to get to know people and the way they work. »
“I’m more often at the Sauber factory than at Mercedes. I go to Hinwil every two races, almost every time there are two weeks between two Grands Prix. But at the factory, I still have to familiarize myself with all the little things. There are already one or two faces that I don’t recognize yet. »
