Bottas: Strong Alfa Romeo F1 form is “best case scenario”

After losing his Mercedes drive to George Russell, Bottas had a choice between Alfa Romeo and Williams for this year, and he eventually opted for the Swiss-based team.

In Bahrain he qualified and finished sixth, and then in Saudi Arabia last weekend he qualified eighth and was ahead of eventual sixth place finisher Esteban Ocon when he retired with an engine temperature issue.

In the first race the Finn started alongside former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, while in the second he qualified eight places ahead of the seven-time world champion, and just 0.079s behind Russell.

“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,” said Bottas when asked by Autosport if the team’s form had exceeded expectations.

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

“If we can keep improving the car there’s no doubt we should be still able in future to always fight for Q3 and top 10 places, so that is good to see.”

Bottas said the team can aim to take on Mercedes and lead the chase of Red Bull and Ferrari in the fight for the third-best team on the grid.

"I think that needs to be the target now," he said. "We seem to be more or less in the same place as in Bahrain, even though I thought this could be maybe more difficult.

“I think aiming to be the best of the rest is a good motivation, and good targets. Hopefully, we eventually can fight for fifth position in the race. That would be a big step for us."

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

In Jeddah Bottas was called into the pits when his Ferrari engine’s temperature began to rise but when there