Valtteri Bottas underlined his fine form at Imola with a fifth place finish, Alfa Romeo’s best result in over two years. “It was fun,” said the Finn after the difficult race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The big improvement in pace came after getting rid of the intermediate tires and putting on the dry wheels, when Bottas was able to do every lap as if it were a qualifying session, as he explained.
“Especially from the middle to the end of the run [on the slicks] we’ve had really good performance and strong pace.
He says it was only when he ran into George Russell’s Mercedes towards the end of the race that he could feel his rear tires wearing down: “From then on I couldn’t catch him, but maybe next time!”
For Bottas, it would have been gratifying to have been able to overtake his successor at Mercedes, especially if it had happened at the same point where they collided last year. Although he tried not to think about it, Bottas admits that the scene is still on his mind.
“Mercedes and George [Russell] were my motivation throughout the race to push every lap and hope for the opportunity at the end which unfortunately didn’t come,” he laments.
This was partly due to an issue during the pit stop which saw Bottas lose around ten seconds to his rivals. “Without that, it might have been a different result.”
However, the Finn is pleased that Alfa Romeo is able to hold its own against Mercedes. “Today we had a better race pace, but I don’t know the reasons why they have those problems,” he said. “I don’t know its technical details, but I just focus on our stuff and what we can improve on.”
“I didn’t expect it, but they still score points anyway. But hopefully we can get more than them,” he says, his surprise at the weakness of Mercedes, the current constructors’ champion, is apparent in his response.
However, Bottas’ career could have been over soon enough, as after the collision between Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo at the start, the Finn was unable to avoid contact with the rear of the McLaren. “I was worried at first because it was a pretty hard hit. But luckily I think I hit it at the right angle,” Bottas said.
“Suddenly Sainz came from the right and Ricciardo hit him. He didn’t give me time to react and I just hit him,” he described. “I was surprised that I was able to continue quite well and I finished without losing any place at the start.”
