Valtteri Bottas praised Guanyu Zhou’s will to work hard, and insists that he’ll help his Alfa Romeo teammate settle and grow in F1.
Alfa Romeo will be fielding a completely new driver line-up in 2022. After Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement and Antonio Giovinazzi’s departure, the team chose Bottas and Zhou as replacement drivers.
Bottas joins the Hinwil based outfit after spending six seasons at Mercedes. Alfa Romeo will be hoping for the Finn to bring in all his experience into the upcoming campaign, and help the team grow.
On the other hand, this will be Zhou’s first ever season in the sport. The 22-year old’s arrival was announced last November, and he becomes the first Chinese driver to land a full time seat in F1.
Zhou finished third in the 2021 F2 Championship, behind Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri. That led to some criticism thrown towards the Shanghai born driver. Fans felt that there were other drivers who deserved an F1 seat more than him, and the only reason Alfa Romeo chose him was for the sponsor money.
Bottas rose to defend his new teammate, praising his work ethic. He stated that Zhou was a very hard working driver, and he would give his best into helping the rookie settle into the sport this season.
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Valtteri Bottas is looking forward to competing alongside Guanyu Zhou at Alfa Romeo
This isn’t the first time Bottas will enter a campaign with a rookie driver as his teammate. He plans on using that experience to help his new partner grow.
Alfa Romeo aren’t expected to field the strongest of cars this season. Hence, Bottas feels it’s important that they stick together and bring in desired results for helping the team grow in the long run.
“I have good experience in the sport and having a rookie team mate,” said Bottas. “He will need support and I’m ready to give that.”
“In the end, if we want the results in the future, in the years to come, we need to be able to work together. I’m sure we can work well together. And I’m going to help Guanyu as much as I can. On his journey to become a complete driver in Formula 1 and a competent driver.”
“So I look forward to it. He’s a nice guy and he’s got the will to work hard. I’m sure we can achieve good things together.”
