Alfa Romeo has praised the “motivating” impact Valtteri Bottas has had since joining the team from Mercedes.
While many thought the move would be a step back, the Finn has been almost reborn at the Swiss team this season, running strongly in the top 10 every weekend and even battling his former employers on track.
But his impact on Alfa Romeo goes further than just his performances, with sporting director Beat Zehnder explaining how his attitude has lifted the team.
“He is always motivating,” he told Sky Sports. “We’ve had other drivers who would have freaked out, but Valtteri says: ‘Guys, I have faith in you, we’ll get this done’.
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“He is calm in himself, and that also helps us a lot.”
Bottas, who currently sits P8 just four points behind Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship, has also fully justified Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur’s decision to pick him as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement.
“I was convinced he could do it,” he told Motorsport-Total.com.
“He has done very well in the past few years in terms of pure performance, but he was always in the shadow of Lewis, but I think anyone would be in the shadow of Lewis.
“He came to us with an enormous amount of experience from Mercedes, and that helps us enormously.
“So far he is doing a great job,” he continued. “In the way he gives the development direction, the right way to improve the car and improve the team in every detail.”
Last weekend at Imola, Bottas finished P5 but had the pace to potentially challenge for a podium as he was quicker than both George Russell and Lando Norris ahead.
And he admits the chance to battle with Mercedes is also driving him to be faster.
“Mercedes and George, that was my motivation throughout the race, to push every lap and hopefully get a chance towards the end,” he said, ultimately finishing just 0.6s behind the Briton.
“I didn’t quite get it. I lost like 10 seconds in the pit stop, and without that, for sure it could have been a bit different.
“The upgrades we had this weekend definitely made the car even stronger, so it’s a good feeling.”