Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo team principal Vasseur will reunite with Bottas for the 2022 season upon his move from Mercedes. Vasseur previously worked with Bottas at his ART Grand Prix squad in both Formula 3 and GP3.
Bottas won the GP3 title in 2011 with ART, putting him on course for an F1 drive with Williams in 2013.
Vasseur felt confident that his prior relationship with Bottas would help lay the ...

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F1 teams are working flat out on the all-new ground effect cars that are arriving for 2022, and aimed at helping improve the racing by allowing drivers to follow each other more closely.
A number of drivers who have tried the new concepts out in simulators have said that they will require a contrasting approach compared to now – as they will move around a lot more on the edge than the current ...

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Mercedes continued its record streak of constructors' championship victories by clinching an eighth title on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, ending the season 28 points clear of Red Bull. It marked a fifth constructors' win for Bottas to end his fifth and final season for Mercedes.
Hamilton was passed on the last lap of the race by Max Verstappen after a controversial restart that led to two protests from ...

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The two-day test at the Yas Marina Circuit will see teams complete running with young drivers, who will drive 2021 cars, and with existing F1 drivers using modified mule cars to test Pirelli’s 2022 18-inch tyres.
Bottas was given permission by Mercedes to take part in the test with Alfa Romeo, and made his first appearance on Tuesday morning at the start of the morning session. He will not ...

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Bottas qualified sixth for the 2021 season finale at Yas Marina, lapping over nine-tenths of a second off pole-sitter Verstappen of Red Bull, who will start side-by-side with Hamilton on the front row of the grid.
Hamilton and Verstappen are tied on points going into the final race, while Mercedes leads Red Bull by 28 points in the constructors' championship, leaving both titles ...

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Bottas finished over nine tenths of a second off pole-sitter Max Verstappen's laptime in Q3 as Red Bull took a surprise pole position ahead of Mercedes, which had led FP2 and FP3 with Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton could only finish three tenths of a second behind Verstappen, but will line up alongside his title rival on the front row on the grid for Sunday's title decider in Abu Dhabi.
Bottas was ...

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The Alpine driver had been running third behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for much of the Jeddah race, before facing a late challenge from Valtteri Bottas.
Although he managed to stave off his Mercedes rival for a while, Ocon ultimately lost a drag race out of the final corner and crossed the finish line just more than one tenth of a second behind.
Speaking about what happened at the ...

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Red Bull driver Verstappen goes into this weekend's Saudi Arabian GP - the penultimate round of the season - with an eight-point gap over Hamilton after having scored nine victories to the Briton's seven.
That advantage means Verstappen will have his first match point of the year at the Jeddah circuit, and will be crowned champion if he leaves Saudi Arabia with a 26-point gap to ...

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Bottas, Carlos Sainz and title contender Max Verstappen were all summoned after qualifying for improving their lap times while yellow flags were out at the end of Q3 in Losail.
Double-waved yellow flags were shown after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri car stopped on the start/finish straight after he sustained damage while running wide over the kerb at Turn 15.
Verstappen passed the double-waved ...

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Like Max Verstappen, who is also under investigation, both drivers were on their final runs in Q3 when Pierre Gasly had stopped on the start-finish straight.
Having struck a kerb that ripped off the AlphaTauri's front wing and gave him a right front puncture, Gasly had driven slowly around the final corner before stopping near the pit wall.
Verstappen passed a set of double waved yellow ...

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The Finn had made a strong start to the weekend in Friday practice, and was again on top of the standings in Saturday morning’s final session before qualifying.
However, he said that from the start of the day’s running he had not felt as comfortable as before with his car – and that explained why he couldn’t match teammate Lewis Hamilton who took pole position.
“It's been a good ...

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The warm afternoon session got off to a false start, being immediately red-flagged for Nikita Mazepin's Haas coming to a halt on pit exit. It led to the Russian remaining in the garage after also sitting out FP2.
With a five-minute delay the lights sprang to green again for Qatar's final practice session ahead of Saturday night qualifying.
Given the daytime conditions being less ...

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In early September Mercedes announced it had signed Williams' George Russell to partner Lewis Hamilton for 2022 and beyond, with Valtteri Bottas moving to Alfa Romeo on a multi-year deal.
Ever since the deal was announced, Bottas has seemingly been flourishing, taking his first win of the campaign in Turkey and scoring three poles in addition to two sprint race wins.
Bottas admitted that his ...

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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest in FP1 but it was Bottas who set the quickest time of the day – under the floodlights in FP2 – at 1m23.148s.
Pierre Gasly was an impressive second fastest in both sessions for AlphaTauri.
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Qatar Grand Prix ...

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Just after darkness had fallen at the Losail circuit, Friday's second session got underway, with Kimi Raikkonen leading the pack out of the pits and setting the opening time during the early running on the harder compounds.
Raikkonen's 1m41.721s was immediately beaten by Carlos Sainz's opening time of 1m26.364s – a full effort compared on that hard tyres to the Alfa's early installation ...

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Bottas scored his second sprint race win of the season on Saturday in Brazil, leading all 24 laps following a Turn 1 pass on pole-sitter Max Verstappen on the opening lap.
The result came as a boost to Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying due to a technical infringement on his DRS, leaving him at the back of the grid.
But Hamilton was able to fight his way back through ...

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Bottas grabbed the lead away from the startline and was helped further as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – who started on pole – was pushed back to third by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. The Dutchman recovered and quickly repassed Sainz to chase down Bottas.
But Verstappen couldn’t beat the Finn, and the win officially gives Bottas the Brazilian GP pole position accolade. His teammate Lewis ...

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At the start, Bottas's soft tyres appeared to give him considerably better grip off the line, as he powered alongside Verstappen despite appearing to react slightly slower to the lights going out.
The Finn was alongside the polesitter at the apex of Turn 1 and surged ahead, as Verstappen quickly came under pressure from Carlos Sainz, who had also been given softs for the start and used them to ...

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Brazil's second practice session got underway without a long-awaited decision on Lewis Hamilton's rear wing case or Verstappen's parc ferme dalliance, potential penalties for either title contender hanging over the Interlagos weekend - and the 2021 title fight at large - like a dark cloud.
Kimi Raikkonen opened the session with a 1m14.604s on medium tyres as all four Alfa Romeo and Haas cars ...

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The Finn has just signed a multi-season deal to join Alfa Romeo from next year, giving him for the first time some proper long term job security.
And having endured throughout his Mercedes career the permanent need to prove himself each season to keep hold of his seat, he says the different scenario with Alfa Romeo has opened his eyes to what he was missing before.
“It probably had a ...

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The Finn did not get away brilliantly from pole position in Mexico City last weekend, as Verstappen, who started right behind him, was able to drag up alongside him down a gap left on the outside of the track.
That opening was enough to allow Verstappen to outbrake Bottas and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton at the first corner, and snatch a lead he would hold on to until the end of the ...

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The McLaren driver got tangled up with Bottas as they touched at the tight Turn 1 in Mexico City. Bottas was spun around while Ricciardo broke his front wing and had to pit for repairs.
During the race, Ricciardo said he was kicking himself for feeling that he had caused the incident, but he says watching a video replay afterwards gave him a different view.
"My memory of turn one was that ...

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With the world championship battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton so close, their teammates have been used at races this year to try to take away fastest lap points.
In Mexico, with Valtteri Bottas outside of the points following his Turn 1 incident, Mercedes made a late switch to softs for the Finn to take the fastest lap away from Verstappen.
But, during his first attempt to set ...

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Bottas has already visited the Hinwil factory and had a seat fitting in anticipation of a deal being reached.
Usually in such situations, complex commercial arrangements have to be addressed. However, the date of the 18-inch tyre test – on December 14-15 – is so late in the calendar year that it falls close to the end of any relevant contracts.
A Mercedes spokesperson told Motorsport.com ...

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Polesitter Bottas and Hamilton had locked out the front row for Mercedes, with the team hoping to use that opportunity to exert control on the Mexico City race early on.
The two were three-wide heading into the first corner with Verstappen, who swept around the outside and claimed the lead of the race with Hamilton in pursuit - while Bottas was left facing the opposite direction after contact ...

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