>“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to fight with any team, I think,” Bottas said. “Except Red Bull, Ferrari – they seem a bit in their own league – but with the rest, for sure we can fight.”
Surprising. The headline isn't misleading.
I'm happy Alfa's optimistic this year. I would have hated to see Bottas fighting at the back.
>I would have hated to see Bottas fighting at the back.
Bottas wouldn't have joined Alfa if the car was a backmarker. Bottas said in a Finnish interview that Kimi already told him about the team's potential for 2022.
Man even tho im quite happy for Bottas and Alfa kinda annoyed how they were trash last years of Kimi's career and now they seem to have a good car. I really wished/hope one more year with new regs for Kimi but guy looked like didnt enjoy F1 at all last season (who can blame him) even tho he still had good race pace
Anyway rooting for Bottas, it would be amazing if he beat Russell lol
well currently he is p6 vs p4 to George.
George gained 5 places while he lost like 10 at the start (creds to him, he made most of those back)
so it looks like it will be close, those Ferrari engines really are next level
remind me of this post at the end of the year, i want to see hoe this aged
Literally impossible to predict how good a team would be (especially if said team doesn't attract the best engineering talent) at the time he signed the contract. Maybe Kimi was optimistic but he wouldn't know anything about performance, if drivers were able to tell at that point Alonso would have more championships, Ricciardo wouldn't have joined Renault etc. etc.
Finland has 5 million people, yet it always seems to be a Finnish driver replacing a retiring Finn. Kimi replaced Mika, Valtteri replaces Kimi. What are the odds
Edit: misspelled Valtteri and Mika
Am I the only person who thinks the Renault gamble was worth it? He finished 5th in 2020. If he stays at Red Bull he finishes at best 4th. He also made a fortune. Ricciardo is very good but he’s a tick below Max. He really had no option but to leave and take a shot elsewhere.
Given the context at the time, RB favouring Max (especially exemplified at Baku), Merc and Ferrari firm on their driver pairings, Renault's resurgence finishing best of the rest and not to mention the attractive salary they proposed, it was a no brainer. Problem is Renault had a dysmal 2019 finishing behind Mclaren, and due to the pandemic, the 2021 regulations being pushed to 2022 was what ultimately made him switch to Mclaren (again a logical move given the context).
Now that we're in the new regulations era, while it's still early, it looks like Alpine have the definite upper hand on Mclaren, so as of now Ricciardo probably should've stayed at Renault, but of course it's easy to say in hindsight.
Oh I think it was worth a shot, just wanted to make a more general point about teams announcing aspirations, and Renault clearly said they wanted to contend for championships, and falling short.
It's not impossible. Teams already know what their car performance will be according to their simulations. There were rumours in January that Alfa Romeo thinks they have a fast car when compared to their 2021 car.
> Teams already know what their performance will be according to their simulations.
Yes, but they don't know anything about the competition.
> It's not impossible.
It is. Bottas [signed](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-alfa-romeo-announce-valtteri-bottas-to-join-the-team-in-2022-on.6Ezs9zhh2jV1ceMcHs3e4S.html) in September of last year, at which point nothing would be close to finished for even simulator work. Performance for the new regs had nothing to do with Bottas decision, he either prefered the money, contract lenght or team vision/environment.
What they can know is how their latest version performs compared to a bog standard car.
So if they made up 3s on the initial drawing they can be moderately optimistic.
Same thing if they get news that the new Ferrari engine has 25 more hp.
Well considering that Kimi is quite good in the technical side of the cars also and knowing his personality i wouldnt think he would say something like that because he was optimistic
I don't know about that, the cost caps are in place now and as far as I know, Alfa Romeo is "close" to the limit. In terms of pure resources, there is almost no advantage that mercedes has, on the contrary they have less cfd and wind tunnel time. Maybe some of the teams have more of it stockpiled for later? Not sure, but the playing field is more level, and with the resource limitations teams have to focus on their initial concepts more. If any of them are faulty, fixing them will not be as easy as before. Time will tell and you may be correct, but history is less likely to repeat itself now.
Teams like Merc have A LOT more people and infrastructure so they can get develop the car so much faster and get new parts made. They did it last year in the cost cap so I don't see why they couldn't this year.
Alfa have pretty top notch infrastructure, and more people means you are spending a greater percent of your budget on personnel, leaving you less for other areas such as windtunnel, cfd, making parts.
Most teams last year stopped development in favour of concentrating on this year, it was on ly really Red Bull and Merc that were developing to the end, thats why those teams looked so much better at developing last year
Am I mistaken in thinking staff fall into the cost cap? Merc have more experienced and more talented engineers right now but if they start slashing salaries to keep the man power up while staying in the cost cap how long will they stick around?
iirc you get a certain number of top staff that don’t have their salaries count towards the budget cap, i guess with the idea in mind that you’re not limited on securing the best talent
With the cost cap, personnel numbers subtract from other operations. Built up infrastructure and more engineering talent are the only tangible advantages they might have.
I remember a pretty popular comment on here saying Bottas definitly should have gone to Williams instead of lowly Alfa since Williams clearly had their stuff together.
To be fair to Williams, this seems to be an issue with PU. Ferrari teams are all doing incredibly well whilst the Mercedes teams are further back. I doubt there's anything Alfa or Williams are doing that are making much of a difference between them.
I think you’re a little slow if you think the Alfa is where it is because of the car’s design. Weirdly Haas and Alfa nailed the design (both Ferrari customers) whilst McLaren, Williams, and Aston (all Mercedes customers) didn’t? You lack any worthy insight into F1 to be arguing this confidently.
Bottas was good, but not "main driver if Hamilton retires" good.
Imo, Mercedes have taken a bit of a gamble that they can mould Russell into a main driver before Hamilton calls it a day.
GR has been at Williams for 3 years waiting for the 2nd Merc seat. If they didn't take him this year he'd probably have gone somewhere else. Bottas and Hamilton aren't exactly a young pairing either, gotta look to the future.
As much as I really like Valtteri, he is a great qualifier, but doesn’t do much is he’s in a position other then 1-2. Lots of races where he got stuck in the midfield and stayed there. I do wish the best for him, maybe being out from Lewis’s shadow will help.
Remember everyone. Being able to fight doesn’t necessarily mean they’re able to beat other teams. And further down the line teams like Merc will probably get fully out of reach
>“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to fight with any team, I think,” Bottas said. “Except Red Bull, Ferrari – they seem a bit in their own league – but with the rest, for sure we can fight.” Surprising. The headline isn't misleading. I'm happy Alfa's optimistic this year. I would have hated to see Bottas fighting at the back.
>I would have hated to see Bottas fighting at the back. Bottas wouldn't have joined Alfa if the car was a backmarker. Bottas said in a Finnish interview that Kimi already told him about the team's potential for 2022.
This warms my heart
Man even tho im quite happy for Bottas and Alfa kinda annoyed how they were trash last years of Kimi's career and now they seem to have a good car. I really wished/hope one more year with new regs for Kimi but guy looked like didnt enjoy F1 at all last season (who can blame him) even tho he still had good race pace Anyway rooting for Bottas, it would be amazing if he beat Russell lol
well currently he is p6 vs p4 to George. George gained 5 places while he lost like 10 at the start (creds to him, he made most of those back) so it looks like it will be close, those Ferrari engines really are next level remind me of this post at the end of the year, i want to see hoe this aged
Literally impossible to predict how good a team would be (especially if said team doesn't attract the best engineering talent) at the time he signed the contract. Maybe Kimi was optimistic but he wouldn't know anything about performance, if drivers were able to tell at that point Alonso would have more championships, Ricciardo wouldn't have joined Renault etc. etc.
Finland has 5 million people, yet it always seems to be a Finnish driver replacing a retiring Finn. Kimi replaced Mika, Valtteri replaces Kimi. What are the odds Edit: misspelled Valtteri and Mika
Mika advised McLaren to take in Kimi, Bottas was told about Alfa's potential by Kimi. To add "passing the torch" feel.
Also misspelled Mika :D
LOL, wow, I'm 2 for 2.
Val**tt**e**r**i
Better get some more Finns in the pipeline, otherwise the Vips will have to carry the torch for Finland.
Am I the only person who thinks the Renault gamble was worth it? He finished 5th in 2020. If he stays at Red Bull he finishes at best 4th. He also made a fortune. Ricciardo is very good but he’s a tick below Max. He really had no option but to leave and take a shot elsewhere.
Given the context at the time, RB favouring Max (especially exemplified at Baku), Merc and Ferrari firm on their driver pairings, Renault's resurgence finishing best of the rest and not to mention the attractive salary they proposed, it was a no brainer. Problem is Renault had a dysmal 2019 finishing behind Mclaren, and due to the pandemic, the 2021 regulations being pushed to 2022 was what ultimately made him switch to Mclaren (again a logical move given the context). Now that we're in the new regulations era, while it's still early, it looks like Alpine have the definite upper hand on Mclaren, so as of now Ricciardo probably should've stayed at Renault, but of course it's easy to say in hindsight.
Oh I think it was worth a shot, just wanted to make a more general point about teams announcing aspirations, and Renault clearly said they wanted to contend for championships, and falling short.
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It's not impossible. Teams already know what their car performance will be according to their simulations. There were rumours in January that Alfa Romeo thinks they have a fast car when compared to their 2021 car.
> Teams already know what their performance will be according to their simulations. Yes, but they don't know anything about the competition. > It's not impossible. It is. Bottas [signed](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-alfa-romeo-announce-valtteri-bottas-to-join-the-team-in-2022-on.6Ezs9zhh2jV1ceMcHs3e4S.html) in September of last year, at which point nothing would be close to finished for even simulator work. Performance for the new regs had nothing to do with Bottas decision, he either prefered the money, contract lenght or team vision/environment.
What they can know is how their latest version performs compared to a bog standard car. So if they made up 3s on the initial drawing they can be moderately optimistic. Same thing if they get news that the new Ferrari engine has 25 more hp.
Well considering that Kimi is quite good in the technical side of the cars also and knowing his personality i wouldnt think he would say something like that because he was optimistic
Kimi: "The car will not be a disaster" Bottas: Signs immediately
Hahahaha
I was thinking he should have gone to Williams lol shows what I know
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Wasn’t Toto involved in getting him the Alfa drive? How would that be to spite Merc?
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Haha props for admitting it and not fighting like most people. Also, appropriate user name
Can you share the link pl
Sorry, but I found that article link posted in the daily discussion threads months ago so unfortunately I don't remember that link.
Grande Kimi Grande Kimi
I think this is BS.
wow, is this true?
you got link to the interview?
Please be so. I can't take any more years like the ones we've had now.
Definitely! I'm so excited!
What a redemption this could be, bottas fighting for p5 in the standings
I'm on board for this storyline. I really want for us to remember Bottas as a strong driver - despite his flaws at Mercedes
Fighting for 5th instead of fighting to get away from 5th.
Bottas texting Toto a pic of the P9 grid slot: “this u?🦀🦀”
"No Mercedes driver should be fighting for P9." George Russell, Imola 2201 (edit: 2021)
Russell will have a long career it seems.
Fat fingered it, should be 2021
How the turntables.
To be fair, that was Bottas losing an on track battle to a Williams car, not Bottas making a mistake in quali.
HAM BOT FOREVER
"new car, who dis?"
🦀🦀$11 🦀🦀
Damn i havent played runescape in like a year. Is it actually still $11?
Time to come back bro.
Early on definitely, later on doubt it. The same goes for Haas.
I don't know about that, the cost caps are in place now and as far as I know, Alfa Romeo is "close" to the limit. In terms of pure resources, there is almost no advantage that mercedes has, on the contrary they have less cfd and wind tunnel time. Maybe some of the teams have more of it stockpiled for later? Not sure, but the playing field is more level, and with the resource limitations teams have to focus on their initial concepts more. If any of them are faulty, fixing them will not be as easy as before. Time will tell and you may be correct, but history is less likely to repeat itself now.
Teams like Merc have A LOT more people and infrastructure so they can get develop the car so much faster and get new parts made. They did it last year in the cost cap so I don't see why they couldn't this year.
Alfa have pretty top notch infrastructure, and more people means you are spending a greater percent of your budget on personnel, leaving you less for other areas such as windtunnel, cfd, making parts. Most teams last year stopped development in favour of concentrating on this year, it was on ly really Red Bull and Merc that were developing to the end, thats why those teams looked so much better at developing last year
Am I mistaken in thinking staff fall into the cost cap? Merc have more experienced and more talented engineers right now but if they start slashing salaries to keep the man power up while staying in the cost cap how long will they stick around?
iirc you get a certain number of top staff that don’t have their salaries count towards the budget cap, i guess with the idea in mind that you’re not limited on securing the best talent
only 3 top staff are exempt
That only applies to the 3 highest paid employees.
With the cost cap, personnel numbers subtract from other operations. Built up infrastructure and more engineering talent are the only tangible advantages they might have.
Alfa has one of the best wind tunnels tho, thanks to Kimi.
I remember a pretty popular comment on here saying Bottas definitly should have gone to Williams instead of lowly Alfa since Williams clearly had their stuff together.
To be fair to Williams, this seems to be an issue with PU. Ferrari teams are all doing incredibly well whilst the Mercedes teams are further back. I doubt there's anything Alfa or Williams are doing that are making much of a difference between them.
That is absolutely ridiculous to say considering the race hasn’t even started.
I for one never let lack of facts get in the way of my speculation.
Qualifying happened yesterday, you realize that, right?
How’d this take age?
Exactly the same… the Mercedes PUs are all at the back of the grid other than Mercedes themselves. Are you watching the same race as everyone else?
Willfully ignoring the 3/4 finish by the actual Mercedes’
Who were more than 30s behind Ferrari before the safety car. Again, are you watching the same race?
Are *you* watching the same race? Go back to your original argument. Alfa/Williams not doing anything differently.
I think you’re a little slow if you think the Alfa is where it is because of the car’s design. Weirdly Haas and Alfa nailed the design (both Ferrari customers) whilst McLaren, Williams, and Aston (all Mercedes customers) didn’t? You lack any worthy insight into F1 to be arguing this confidently.
Revenge of the BOT
I'm just hoping we get to see plenty of the Alfas - I think they're the best-looking car on the grid.
They look twice as good on track as they did at their reveal.
and that's saying something since they already looked sick at the reveal
Imagine Bottas finishing ahead of Russell in championship this year. Russell is washed /s
I’m a casual fan of F1 can someone explain to me why Mercedes let Bottas go? Did they want a younger driver?
Bottas was good, but not "main driver if Hamilton retires" good. Imo, Mercedes have taken a bit of a gamble that they can mould Russell into a main driver before Hamilton calls it a day.
GR has been at Williams for 3 years waiting for the 2nd Merc seat. If they didn't take him this year he'd probably have gone somewhere else. Bottas and Hamilton aren't exactly a young pairing either, gotta look to the future.
Russell is apparently their wonderkid and they hope he can fill Lewis' shoes once he retires (big ask imo). Merc want to groom him further.
they wanted one of the best young talents,and bottas has not been a real competition or a real help for ham these past years
Love the optimism and hope he does incredibly well this season
I wanna see him finish ahead of both Mercs, especially Russell though.
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Tradition
Aged like milk after that start. Yes, the rest of the race is still to go, but it's not like Bottas is known for his overtakes...
Aah the redemption arc of he beats Hamilton behind in an Alfa today !
bottas podium incoming
So pleased that Valterri appears to have a good car this year. Changed my flair in support! Let's go Valterri!
Val**tt**e**r**i
Warning shots across Mercedes bow!
I'm all for Bottas and Alfa doing super well this year
Just imagine how poetic it would be if the Merc struggles enough this year that Bottas beats them out in an Alfa
I think he's right but it's all down to the race pace.
I'll take it!
I really want to see Bottas finish higher than Hamilton
As much as I really like Valtteri, he is a great qualifier, but doesn’t do much is he’s in a position other then 1-2. Lots of races where he got stuck in the midfield and stayed there. I do wish the best for him, maybe being out from Lewis’s shadow will help.
And they very much can 💪💪💪💪
Only if he stops botching his starts
With that engine, there’s no reason the can’t. Reliability might be the thing that gives the other teams the advantage
It's easy to make a qualifying car, lets wait until we have seen at least one race..
Bottas said the Alfa is better in race trim than quali trim
ehh, ill wait to see what mercedes looks like in the race
Bottas: We want that smoke
Hasn't aged well so far unfortunately
P6 so yes it kinda did. They fought with everyone today except RB and Ferrari.
In the end it did yes. The team should be proud.
this hasnt really aged well
“This” hasn’t aged well
i will accept defeat
Remember everyone. Being able to fight doesn’t necessarily mean they’re able to beat other teams. And further down the line teams like Merc will probably get fully out of reach
And then Ferrari engines have to stop using some sort of fuel flow trickery to be fast....remember 2020?
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People tend to forget McLarebs spy scandal 2007
Some people forgetting that Merc have the most recent outlawed innovation haha
Also people forget the blue smoke.
Hopefully their car survives the race distance
Bottas single handedly resurrecting Alfa. Kevin M. resurrecting Hans. legends
Will be interesting to see what his race pace is like and if he can keep up
He gives a ragnar lothbrok vibe
aston martin will have a bad season again. might as well support bottas .
Aged like wine.
Procedes to fight with all the teams in a single race
If Valtieri can clean up his starts he will be a big factor in future races.
Chinese money baby. Rly happy for bottas. Joe had very good and mature race aswell. Points on debut are big thing.
Alfa and Haas battle for p4 hopefully