Valtteri Bottas is “rather pleased” to start next to Hamilton
Valtteri Bottas said he is happy to be starting alongside his former teammate, Lewis Hamilton, on the grid for his first race with Alfa Romeo.
Valtteri Bottas was among the fastest on track this Saturday. The Finnish driver pushed the C42 to reach Q3 and secure sixth place on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix this Sunday.
Bottas will be alongside Lewis Hamilton for the start, as the Briton will start in fifth position. And apparently, this is bringing a smile to the faces of the two former teammates.
« We will leave side by side, it’s pretty cool,” confides Valtteri Bottas. « I just saw him and we were both smiling. It should be fun. If someone had told me that we would be starting side by side in Bahrain with Lewis, I would have agreed. But yes, it’s the beginning, the starting point of our journey. Now we have to make sure to look ahead rather than backwards. It’s so exciting,” says the Finnish driver before teasing Toto Wolff about the second Mercedes’ position on the grid (9th).
After two particularly difficult seasons for Alfa Romeo, this position and the performances of the C42 lift morale. It appears that the Ferrari engines are quite effective at the beginning of the season, as Pierre Gasly had explained before the qualifications.
« Yes, it makes me happy. It gives me a lot of hope. But if we had finished in P18, it would just be a slightly higher mountain to climb. » explains Bottas. « It’s still a mountain, but it’s no longer Mount Everest. » affirms the Finnish driver.
