Valtteri Bottas out-qualified his Mercedes replacement George Russell in his first-ever Qualifying outing for Alfa Romeo, in Bahrain.
The first qualifying session of the 2022 season produced a number of surprises. The biggest of them all was probably Bottas’ Alfa Romeo finishing ahead of Russell.
Russell replaced the Finn at Mercedes ahead of the 2022 campaign. He was long tipped to be Lewis Hamilton’s successor at the Silver Arrows, with many labelling him as a future World Champion.
The young Brit’s first outing as a full-time Mercedes driver didn’t go as he would have hoped. Russell comfortably went into Q3 alongside Hamilton. In the top 10 shootouts, however, he put in an underwhelming performance.
The 24-year old managed a P9 finish, behind Bottas who qualified P6. Hamilton ended up in fifth and will start tomorrow’s race on the third row along with his former teammate.
After the exciting session, Bottas admitted that putting his C42 in between the two Mercedes cars, felt cool.
Also read: Former World Champion says Mercedes is out of control with the porpoising problem
Outqualifying George Russell surprised Valtteri Bottas a little bit
In terms of his car’s performance, Bottas said he wasn’t surprised at the strong pace. There were concerns regarding the team’s reliability issues, but the 32-year old was adamant that they were moving in the right direction.
“We knew if we did everything right, we had a chance of getting into the top 10,” Bottas said. “But seeing it a reality. Being P6 is really quite rewarding. I think it’s really motivating for everyone, so I am pleased.”
When asked if finishing sixth surprised him or not, Bottas replied with, “Yes and no.”
“This morning I was thinking yeah, maybe P6 or P7. Somewhere there would be quite nice. But actually, splitting the Mercedes cars was pretty cool!”
The last time the Finn missed out on Q3 was at the 2016 season finale in Abu Dhabi, when he was with Williams.
Bottas went into Q3 in every single race (101) he drove for Mercedes. Not many expected him to carry forward that run after switching to Alfa, but he was confident of doing so.
Also read: Charles Leclerc is on the pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix
