Bottas Reflects On Vasseur's Promises That Convinced Him To Join Alfa Romeo

Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 23:00

Alfa Romeo Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas recently talked about his feelings after the challenging 2023 season.

The Finnish driver finished 15th in the Drivers' Championship in 2023. That is a result almost no driver on the grid would be proud of. However, Bottas blamed it on the low performance of his Alfa Romeo car.

Alfa Romeo team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi told the media after the end of the season that the ninth place in the championship had been disappointing for the whole team. Bottas told motorsport magazin:

"It would be a bit harsh to call it a disappointment. I expected more from this year, no doubt. This applies to everyone on the team. We expected progress, not regression. From this perspective, yes."

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Current Scuderia Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur used to be the team principal of the Alfa Romeo F1 team before replacing departing Mattia Binotto.

The team principal had to work hard to convince Bottas to join a team that finished the 2021 season ninth in the Constructors' Championship.

The 34-year-old driver was used to driving for the best team on the grid. Up until that point, Bottas spent five seasons driving for Mercedes and achieved incredible results with the team.

During all his seasons with Silver Arrows, they won the Constructors' Championship every single time, and the Finn achieved 67 podiums and 10 Grand Prix victories.

Therefore, the former Alfa Romeo team principal had to give Bottas some promise of a better future as he wanted him to join the ninth-worst team at that point. Asked whether promises made to him have been kept, Bottas added:

"Next year will show that. He had high hopes for a three-year plan. I can answer that next year. As far as this season goes, that's probably not the case. As I said before: you always expect a trend of improvement, not a decline. It was a challenging year."