“It’s nice to be able to battle with them” – Valtteri Bottas reveals how he feels watching Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes struggle

Samriddhi Jaiswal | 27/03/2022
"It's nice to be able to battle with them" - Valtteri Bottas reveals how he feels watching Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes struggle

Valtteri Bottas secured P8 in qualifying in Jeddah in Alfa Romeo while his previous teammate Lewis Hamilton got eliminated in Q1.

Valtteri Bottas moved to the Swiss F1 team Alfa Romeo after serving five years with Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Having outperformed Hamilton in Jeddah qualifying, Bottas explains how it feels to see the Briton and Mercedes struggle. The seven-time world champion got eliminated in the Q1 in qualifying in Jeddah marking it as the first time since 2017.

In the meantime, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell had a better day and qualified in P6 on Saturday. Mercedes has been struggling so far this season and this time they are really not sandbagging.

As for Bottas, he is performing quite well in Alfa Romeo as he secured P8 and his teammate Guanyu Zhou qualified 13th.

Also Read: Toto Wolff vows to lead Mercedes out of their slump after a disappointing qualifying performance in Jeddah

Valtteri Bottas says it is weird to see Hamilton struggle

The Finnish driver admitted that it was weird to see Hamilton struggle on the track in Saturday’s session. Bottas said, “It’s weird to see. I would guess he had some kind of issue. I don’t know.”

However, the Alfa Romeo driver is still looking forward to and enjoying having the opportunity to compete against his former team.

“It is surprising to see them struggling, but it’s also nice to be able to battle with them,” the Finnish driver said.

Bottas has a strong start to the year with his new team. He finished the Bahrain GP in sixth place for the team.

“I think this was kind of the best-case scenario for our first season together that I could ever imagine, with the information I had,” the 10-time race winner explained.

“I’m really happy with the decision I made, and I’m happy overall as well. So yeah, [I’m] enjoying it.”

Also Read: Lando Norris calls for changes to be made to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after Mick Schumacher’s devastating crash

Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal
Alfa Romeo Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Valtteri Bottas

About the author

Samriddhi Jaiswal

Samriddhi Jaiswal is an F1 editor and writer at The SportsRush. She started her career as a business journalist but soon found her calling in lights out here we go! Samriddhi has been a Ferrari fan even when her interaction with F1 was occasional. Her first real experience with the thrilling sport came when Charles Leclerc clinched his iconic victory in Spa and Monza and painted the track red. Now, a Tifosi, Samriddhi is a hardcore fan of the prancing horse and can relate to the chaos within the Italian camp and also admires Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Off the track, she finds her home in books and musical instruments.

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