Valtteri Bottas Considers 42-Year-Old “Outlier” Fernando Alonso as His Inspiration to Keep Driving in F1

42-year-old Fernando Alonso stands as the oldest driver on the grid. In a career spanning over 21 years, the Spaniard has won the driver’s title twice while driving for Renault. Given the longevity of his career, Alonso has set the benchmark for what one can achieve in the sport if they focus all their attention on it. Keeping his achievements in mind, Valtteri Bottas, who is eight years younger than the Spaniard, hopes he can be like Alonso despite their careers being at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Bottas was once a driver with Mercedes, where he could have won championships if it weren’t for Lewis Hamilton’s abilities. The Finnish driver now finds himself driving for Alfa Romeo, a team that’s far from even contending for a top-three position, much less trying to win the constructor’s title. He currently finds himself 15th in the driver’s standings and has just six points to his name this season.

Meanwhile, Alonso and Aston Martin have had a far superior season, with the driver often finishing in the podium places. Both the driver and the team are placed third in their respective categories, with hopes of vying for a title in the coming years.

Valtteri Bottas draws his inspiration from Fernando Alonso

In an interview with Speedcafe, Bottas claims the Spaniard, who he referred to as an “outlier” in F1, is an inspiration for him as he hopes to continue driving in F1 for many more years. The Finnish driver adds that he can perform much better given the right resources.

“He’s perhaps an outlier. It’s not been done many times in this sport that you can still be super competitive at that age. Every person is different, every driver is different, but, as I say, he’s maybe a bit of an outlier. But he’s still quite motivating to see that and definitely an example.”

The 34-year-old also accepted that even though he has a lot of experience driving in F1, it is the results that matter. No matter how experienced a driver is, if their results are unsatisfactory, their time on the grid is short-lived.

Even though he is currently seeing a dismal time with Alfa Romeo, Bottas backs himself to be mentally and physically prepared to continue racing in the sport in hopes of landing a seat on a bigger team.

The road ahead only gets tougher for Bottas and Alfa Romeo

The Alfa Romeo drivers have struggled throughout the season. While Bottas has earned six points from 14 races, his teammate, Zhou Guanyu, has secured a mere four points so far. Consequently, the drivers find themselves ranked 15th and 16th in the drivers standings, respectively.

The team’s current car, the C43, lacks a lot of grip and aerodynamic load, which results in the drivers not having enough high-speed corner performance and drag levels.

 

🚨 | Theo Pourchaire and Felipe Drugovich have been mentioned as 2024 options for Alfa Romeo.

However, Zhou Guanyu insists contract talks with Alfa are nearing an agreement:https://t.co/4uercyoq4u

— formularacers (@formularacers_) September 1, 2023

The team has worked hard to resolve the issues but has had no breakthroughs in the field. Currently placed 9th in the constructor’s championship, only AlphaTauri have had a worse season than them. Waiting for the arrival of the 2024 season, which will see a major rebranding of the team, Alfa Romeo’s primary target for the upcoming season will be to vie for a mid-table finish while hoping to maintain stability in their driver lineup.