Vasseur: “Bottas will be our leader” | FormulaPassion.it

In the market chessboard with a view to 2022, theAlfa Romeo, which from the next championship will have Valtteri in the team Bottas. The Finn will replace fellow countryman Kimi Räikkönen, who has hung up his helmet: despite the fact that he cannot match the experience of Iceman, Bottas could be a good buy for the Hinwil-based team, thanks to his 170 Formula 1 Grands Prix (which will become 178 at the end of the season) and his militancy in Mercedes. In recent years he has always lived in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton and the woodcutter’s desire for revenge could be a factor in the next championship. A championship still full of unknowns, but Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur has a certainty: Bottas has all the characteristics to be the leader of the team.

“If we take a look at the last three or four seasons, Valtteri has always been on the podium of the championship (actually in 2018 he finished fifth, ed). He showed enormous potential in terms of pace compared to Lewis. He was always very close to him in qualifying. Other than that, because speed is not an absolute parameter for me, I think that Valtteri was looking for a project where he could be the leader. And, in turn, we were looking for a leader for the next two years: therefore, we fit perfectly into our plans. I think we can build a project around Valtteri“, The Frenchman said to RacingNews365. “Over the past 25 years, all good designs have been built around a benchmark driver. Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, Renault with Fernando Alonso, Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel, the Mercedes with Hamilton. We need to build a project around a rider and I am fully convinced that Valtteri can be perfect. We were looking for the same thing: stability. And next year is a huge opportunity for us“.

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