https://www.instagram.com/p/CTe7AE_rQIr/ “Thank you Valtteri for all of your support and amazing contributions to this team. You will be missed. I wish you all the best for your future endeavours let’s finish off strong and get that 8th for the team.” LOL on “for the team.”
Yeah...why go the junior Mercedes team Williams when he's more valuable to the junior Ferrari team Alfa. He can provide more insight regarding Mercedes success.
Yep, won’t help Alfa unless he’s bringing tech people with him… Hopefully George will be able to fit into the cockpit of next year’s MB…
Known quantity to Alfa leadership. Well experienced with the top team in F1. Not a bad pick for Alfa at all. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/valtteri-bottas-to-drive-for-alfa-romeo-f1-team-in-2022/6661658/ Bottas is reunited at Alfa Romeo with team principal Fred Vasseur, with whom he worked at ART in F3 in 2009 and 2010, and in GP3 in 2011, when he won the championship. "A new chapter in my racing career is opening," said Bottas. "I'm excited to join Alfa Romeo for 2022 and beyond for what is going to be a new challenge with an iconic manufacturer. "Alfa Romeo is a brand that needs no introduction, they have written some great pages of F1 history, and it's going to be an honour to represent this marque. "The potential of the set-up in Hinwil is clear, and I am relishing the opportunity to help lead the team forward up the grid, especially with the new regulations in 2022 giving the team a chance to make a leap in performance. "I'm grateful for the trust the team has put in me, and I cannot wait to repay their faith. I'm as hungry as ever to race for results and, when the time comes, for wins. "I know Fred well and I am looking forward to getting to know the rest of the team I am going to work with, building relationships as strong as the ones I have at Mercedes." Image Unavailable, Please Login Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12 Photo by: Erik Junius Bottas is currently in his fifth season with Mercedes, having been recruited after the surprise retirement of new world champion Nico Rosberg at the end of 2016. So far he has scored nine grand prix wins, earned 17 pole positions and logged 17 fastest laps, one of the latter achieved in his Williams days. He was runner-up to his world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton in both 2019 and 2020. Despite the strong contribution of Bottas over the years, the prospect of promoting Russell from Williams ultimately proved irresistible for Mercedes and team boss Toto Wolff. The Austrian was involved in Bottas's management before a conflict of interest obliged him to step back. Wolff has long stressed that he wanted to ensure that his former protege found a new seat should Russell be given the nod for the Mercedes drive, and said after Bottas's move to Alfa was announced that "he would absolutely have deserved to stay" in 2022. Bottas added: "I am proud of what I have achieved in Brackley and I am fully focused on finishing the job as we fight for another world championship, but I am also looking forward to the new challenges that await me next year." Vasseur stressed that experience was the key to choosing Bottas as replacement for the retiring Raikkonen. "It is a pleasure to welcome Valtteri to the team and we are looking forward to our journey together," said the Frenchman. "With him, we bring to Hinwil a strong team player with experience at the sharp end of the grid. "Valtteri has been an integral part of a team that rewrote the history books and he has four constructors' world titles to his name. "He is the right driver to help Alfa Romeo make a step forward towards the front of the grid. Our relationship goes back a long way, to when we worked together in successful campaigns in F3 and GP3, and his talent and skills have been evident ever since, only growing with the time." Image Unavailable, Please Login Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 3rd position, with his trophy on the podium Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images Vasseur added that the length of the contract was a key element: "The multi-year deal bringing him to us gives both Valtteri and the team the stability we need to build our project at a crucial time for F1. We are excited for what the future holds in store."
AlphaTauri confirms Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda will remain at the team for 2022. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
Tsunoda should learn humility if he want to stay in formula one. Until now he looked pretty stupid when he made a mistake.
Yuki's pushing himself too hard. Hopefully that goes away soon....even more so by 2022. He has tenacity, I'll give him that.
We/re waiting for an official announcement, but most of us know where's he's headed. Image Unavailable, Please Login
How many F1 drivers will have had a dominant car in their career? At least a year? Very few. Bottas had for FIVE long years a dominant car in the championship. Never being able to be a genuine contender for a title. I won’t cry the day he announces his retirement.
CONFIRMED: George Russell will race for Mercedes in 2022. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So he did not take a title. World turns. Did Bottas steal your candy?? Perez will not win one next to Max lol!! Chin up. So no driver is worthy unless they win a title lol. Pathetic post. Its driven by the fact he did not beat LH. Irvine did not beat MS etc etc. Lots of drivers in good cars dont win titles. This cannot surprise you.
Instead of saying that my post is pathetic, ask yourself what you’re doing in front of your television screen. A year of Hamilton/Rosberg duel isn’t more exciting than five years of Bottas as a teammate? Be honest with yourself for once.. And yes i would have loved to see Alonso as Schumacher's teammate if you want to know.
Russell put Mercedes into a corner. His consistent performance combined with Bottas' inconsistency, plus pretty significant pressure (though that can be over-ridden) really made it quite hard for them not to take Russell. I'm sure in a few years (probably after Russell's Mercedes chapter) it'll become clear he had an offer from Red Bull to really force Mercedes' hand. Bottas was hired as the dutiful lap dog after a scrappy Rosberg proved an unforeseen problem for Mercedes. In 2016 the relationship between the drivers and within the team was awful. I understand it from Mercedes' stand point, but as a fan I HATED that era. At the very least with Rosberg-Hamilton we where entertained most of the time when they where fighting it out. Bottas never really had much of a fight in him, and on the rare occasion that he did, it typically never lasted more than a few corners or that very rare occasion where it lasted a few laps. As an F1 fan bored by Mercedes domination, this was just ****. If it wasn't for Ferrari to put up the occasional fights at the time I don't think I'd be watching at all, I was that close to being done with F1 as a whole for some time. I actually sympathized with Bottas somewhat, especially seeing how he was treated by Mercedes when they threw him a victory party and the only people attending where Bottas himself, a netflix camera man and a Heineken beer. I wouldn't be surprised if that beer was warm at that. In his interview with Alfa, it's the first time I've seen Bottas genuinely happy. Good for him. He's probably racing and hope he can get a point next year, but I hope he has fun doing it and will be appreciated.
Compared to the RBR-hate in most of your posts, @jpalmito ’s was a fair comment on how really badly Bottas underperformed with an absolutely dominant car. The fact Perez won a race last year with a year-old version of the car indicates that any other top-notch driver would have won more consistently in a Merc that Bottas did. I agree he’s just an average driver and would not miss him if he retired tomorrow and don’t understand how Alfa think they’ve improved their driver line-up by signing him.
Sauber doesn't have yet an engine supply contract for next year: https://www.italiaracing.net/Sauber-coi-motori-Mercedes-nel-2022-reazione-a-catena-sulla-griglia-F1-/244222/1
