Valtteri Bottas

Two-time Austria race winner Bottas took a fresh engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K and control electronics ahead of opening practice at the Red Bull Ring on Friday, triggering the penalty.
For each of the elements, Bottas exceeded the season limit in place by the FIA, meaning he is handed an automatic back-of-grid penalty for Sunday.
Bottas will start Saturday’s sprint race from wherever ...

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The Alfa Romeo driver was battling the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc for much of the hour-long practice, taking third place with his first attempt, a 1m46.056s.
Leclerc led early on, with Sainz then taking the top spot, before Bottas demoted the pair, setting a 1m42.249s with just five minutes left on the clock.
The session was ended prematurely after Aston Martin's Lance ...

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Bottas noted that at his previous team he didn’t always enjoy driving what was supposedly the fastest set-up – one presumably usually influenced by the preferences of teammate Lewis Hamilton – because it didn’t suit his style.
The Finn says that the Alfa provides him with a good starting point which he is then able to improve upon.
"I feel like in the past quite often the set-up that ...

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Bottas endured a frustrating weekend in Baku after his pace completely vanished from Saturday onwards. In the race, he was a sitting duck, finishing a lapped 11th while teammate Zhou Guanyu was on course for points until he retired with a technical issue.
On Friday, Bottas finished one tenth ahead of Zhou in each practice session. After swapping to Alfa's new specification on Saturday morning ...

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The Hinwil-based team has a limited supply of the latest upgrades and opted not to put them on the cars of Bottas and Zhou Guanyu on Friday so as not to risk sustaining any damage.
Bottas expects the upgraded spec car to be faster on Saturday, and added that his best lap in FP2 was spoiled by a lock-up, costing time that would have put him on the edge of the top 10.
"I don't think it's the ...

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Ten-time grand prix winner Bottas joined Alfa Romeo for 2022 after leaving Mercedes following a five-season stint, signing a multi-year deal with the Swiss-based squad.
Bottas has helped Alfa Romeo enjoyed a significant upward swing so far this season. After scoring just 13 points and finishing ninth in the standings last year, the team has already more than tripled that total in ...

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Bottas suffered a Ferrari MGU-K failure on his very first lap in FP1, before he had set a time.
He managed to the car back to the pits, but the MGU-K issue meant that he broke the speed limit by 21.9km/h as he came in, earning himself a €1000 fine.
He was forced to sit out the rest of the FP1 session before finally getting some laps in FP2 after his team changed both the MGU-K and the ...

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Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Bottas stayed in the United States following the Miami Grand Prix, taking time to travel with his partner and professional cyclist, Tiffany Cromwell.
Bottas posted a picture to his Instagram showing him swimming in a stream in Aspen, Colorado, with his bare bottom poking out of the water.
The stir it caused on social media ...

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Bottas continued his impressive start to life at Alfa Romeo in 2022 by finishing sixth at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday, ensuring the team retained P5 in the constructors' standings.
But the Finn had been running as high as third at one point, benefitting from the hectic first half of the race that saw Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz drop back, and early leader Charles Leclerc ...

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Bottas parked at the side of the road at the end of the pit straight, limiting his experience of the team’s major update package to test runs in the earlier session and just one flying lap on the medium tyre in FP2.
The Ferrari power unit, which was used by Bottas in the early races of the season, cannot be used again, pushing him towards grid penalties later in the year.
In Imola, Bottas ...

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The Finn was running fifth ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton when he ran wide and touched the wall at the Turn 17 hairpin with eight laps to go, ceding two position to the Mercedes drivers.
Despite the obvious disappointment at the lost points, Vasseur insisted that he was still satisfied with seventh, especially given that a crash in FP1 meant that Bottas lost all of FP2 and thus ...

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Alfa Romeo driver Bottas ran fifth for the majority of the inaugural race around the new Hard Rock Stadium track but says "everything changed" when the safety car was called to retrieve the stranded McLaren of Lando Norris after his clash with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
That not only allowed the Mercedes cars behind him to close up while George Russell was able to make a 'free' pitstop and ...

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Bottas suffered a broken exhaust during Q3 on Friday, and was told by the team to pull over and stop after telemetry flagged rising temperatures.
Despite not being able to complete the session he still earned eighth on the grid.
After inspecting the car the team realised that damage to the wiring loom and other systems was so significant that it was easier to swap to the spare chassis than ...

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Bottas was left disappointed after the exit in the second qualifying segment ended his record of consecutive appearances in Q3 sessions at 103.
The Alfa Romeo driver, who started the first two races of 2022 with his new team in sixth and eighth positions, could manage only 12th place at Albert Park.
Bottas admitted that Alfa Romeo didn't quite have the pace in Melbourne, highlighting a late ...

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Two years after COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the race weekend just hours before practice was due to begin, the F1 paddock has returned to Melbourne for the third round of the 2022 season.
The layout of the Albert Park track has been tweaked in a bid to improve overtaking opportunities and create a better spectacle after criticism from drivers about the lack of action in previous ...

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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 ...

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Bottas starred in his first qualifying outing for his new team, taking sixth alongside his former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
But at the start the Finn suffered massive wheelspin as he was swallowed by the chasing pack. He continued to drop down the order on the first lap, coming through in 14th.
Bottas revealed that Alfa Romeo's starts had been a recurring problem throughout the ...

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Bottas was one of the stars of qualifying on Saturday evening as he charged to sixth place on the grid, making him the top qualifier outside the ‘big three’ teams.
It means the Finn will start on the third row of the grid alongside Hamilton after the Mercedes driver could only muster fifth, trailing both Ferraris and both Red Bulls.
Bottas also out-qualified his replacement at Mercedes ...

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The Finn progressed into Q3 in all 101 of his starts for Mercedes, notching 20 poles during that time, in a streak that stretches back to his Williams farewell in the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP.
On Friday, Bottas notched the sixth-fastest time in second practice at Sakhir with his qualifying simulation resulting in a 1m32.951s to finish 1.015s adrift of pacesetter Max Verstappen.
That came despite ...

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Several glitches with its C42 car curtailed the team's running during the first test in Barcelona, with new signings Bottas and rookie Guanyu Zhou only getting a limited amount of laps in.
Alfa Romeo's mileage improved at this week's second and final test in Bahrain, the Hinwil team topping Saturday's lap charts with 150 tours of Sakhir.
But it still encountered several issues, the ...

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The Swiss outfit endured a difficult time in the first pre-season F1 test as its car was hampered by excessive porpoising that could not be fixed on location in Spain.
But after extensive work back at its factory, Alfa Romeo made improvements to its car and set-up that allowed it to complete a full day of running for Bottas and teammate Guanyu Zhou in Bahrain.
With both drivers completing a ...

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Bottas joined Alfa Romeo for this year following a five-season stint at Mercedes, where he scored 10 race wins and helped the team win the constructors’ championship every year.
Mercedes opted to promote junior driver George Russell into the seat alongside Lewis Hamilton for 2022, leaving Bottas to agree on a multi-year deal with Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic ...

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During the first extended runs of the new cars designed under the revised technical regulations for 2022, all teams found their cars were bouncing along the straight when at high speed due to the new ground effect requirements.
The issue proved uncomfortable for drivers and caused a number of teams to sustain damage to the floor of their cars, while others had to revise their set-ups to make ...

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Bottas joined Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season after spending the last five years with Mercedes, where he scored 10 race wins and contributed to the team claiming five consecutive constructors’ championships.
But Bottas was not able to complete an extensive programme in this week’s Barcelona test as reliability issues with the new Alfa Romeo C42 car restricted his running. The Finn completed ...

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Reserve driver Robert Kubica completed only nine laps when he ran the C42 in the morning session, while Bottas managed a further 23 when he took over in the afternoon, the Finn finishing the day in 10th place overall.
The team's total of 32 laps was the lowest of the day, behind the similarly troubled Haas on 43.
Despite the loss of valuable track time, Bottas remained upbeat after his first ...

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