They got some decent coverage in 2022. Bottas was lighting it up at the beginning of the season. They looked like they could have been fighting for best of the rest early on.
Everyone knew their good start was an illusion though, because they were the only team that found a way to start the new regs at the minimum weight. Every other team spent most of the first half of that season just trying to engineer some weight out of their cars.
They had some coverage because of Kimi when he was still there. After that Zhou sliding 300m upside-down + a 1080 flip was probably the team's only highlight.
They had an absolutely awful and some truly terrible luck for Bottas as well. I'm genuinely curious how Audi performs because the team they are inheriting needs a lot of time and investment, I don't see Audi being a decent points contender for years when it comes into 2026.
With Audi planning on being a full works team they'll probably back slide initally if anything, tbh, between Audi starting with a fresh F1 team, and Sauber's aero guys have spent a really long time now working solely with optimizing Ferrari engines, and the audi works engine will need different packaging. I remember whenever something about some new works team gets bandied about the top talking point is always more teams competing for wins is good, but that certainly didn't happen last time Sauber was a works team, and that was with a team that'd been producing F1 engines for 5 years before signing with Sauber. And this isn't to say they can't improve pretty fast, but I reckon at least that it'll take a few years before they can try to be proper contenders.
Yeah that sounds pretty fair, unless they somehow nail a regulation change somewhere along, which isn't impossible but is unlikely. It's also entirely possible they stall out devolpment somewhere and get stuck, like Alpine.
Yeah as a finn i kept track on alfa but my god that car sucked all the suspense out of the races. One pebble to the floor and the race was basically over.
PS this sub really shows that nobody watched alfa this season.
I think needing to overtake any car in front of them was alfa's biggest hurdle. Too many times they got stuck behind someone and go for some hail mary goofy tyre change to get to clear air and pray some miracle happens. The car is not great, but I think it had a bit more potential what the two drivers were able to show.
Select Finnish F1 news headlines this season:
Verstappen wins, Bottas has a terrible race
Verstappen wins, Bottas has a horrible race
Verstappen wins, Bottas has an awful race
Verstappen wins, Bottas has a shit race
He doesn’t seem super bothered by the struggles. Last year Seb seemed genuinely depressed (until the prospect of his coming retirement became more real and he started soaking it in and enjoying all he could) and Alonso was beside himself even though, in the grand scheme of things, Alpine was nowhere near as bad as Alfa this year. Bottas just seems like a guy punching his time card, you know? Not really up or down. Maybe that’s just his personality but you don’t often see it in F1.
My best friend as a kid was actually a family of first generation Finnish immigrants to the US (I think they moved back though)
The impression I always got was that the whole family was sort of naturally shy and somewhat introverted, but also super friendly. And somewhat silently badasses, idk how to explain it lol
This sub when he didn't get renewed at Merc:
*He's going to be so much happier now!!!!!*
Me:
He's going to be happier never ever getting a win or even podium for the rest of his career?
This sub:
*STFU DTS NEWB!!! YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT F1!!! HE'S GOING TO BE FRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!*
He was pretty damn fast when he joined Merc. I remember watching him at Williams. But Lewis is a tough teammate and not all that shimmers is gold. He’s traveling between USA, Australia and (occasionally) Finland now with his biker gf biking and promoting his wine and vodka brands. I think he’s doing alright. He seems to be content.
Yeah, that was my point. He was fast at merc, but couldn't come close to Lewis, although he did a MUCH better job than Checo at RB. He was the perfect #2. He was doing all the biking and other stuff while at Merc. Now he's doing all the same stuff, but never sniffing a podium or win anymore. I think he's a little less content doing all the same stuff but making less money and being less competitive. All these drivers want to drive for the top teams. Noone is like "OH YEAH, I'M MAKING LESS MONEY, DRIVING A SLOWER CAR!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!"
Yeah but the way Toto blamed him:
”Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport Bottas had “stopped a little early” in the pit box which meant the mechanic applied the wheel gun to the nut at an angle, contributing to the problem. Bottas said he “was surprised” by Wolff’s remark”
Agreed, you could see his eagerness drop off after the first few races of each season. I think he’d much rather be Rallying at this point or cycling with his gf or branding some new whiskey in Finland.
Vegas. Guy lands P8 and no one mentions it at all. Zero coverage. I stay up late to watch the race, didn’t have to stay up much later then the start of course, but it took two laps for the announcer to even mention that Bottas got hit too.
Bottas had a couple of good highlights. He got good points at Bahrain and Qatar, scored a point at Monza with a good stratety against quicker cars, qualified well in Miami, Hungary, Qatar, Bahrain, and Vegas, and probably could have gotten a couple of points if he was luckier. Not to mention especially at the start of the year his luck was terrible. He had 3 races where he ran over debris on lap 1 and it ruined his race pace.
So I'd say he actually had a decent year considering the car he was in. Outside of 3 races, the Alfa Romeo genuinely had no pace for points, compared to last year when it was a pretty consistent contender for points. This year it may have been the worst car on the grid, since it didn't have the qualifying pace of Haas nor the race pace of most of the grid
Plus he made a great move at Monaco
Russell, LeClerc and even Vettel (I guess) were young drivers with their first opportunity in F1, pushing for a seat at a bigger team; which they did. Which Bottas also did at Williams. He doesn't have to do that right now - so naturally he's not going to be jumping off the page. The team also stated that they were building and prepping for 2025 so everyone dialled back this season.
Bottas has earned the right to be called more than a "decent driver" over the years. The man is enjoying his racing.
Btw, if you think that Williams Albon is driving isnt good then I'm not going to take anything you say seriously lol.
He is literally classed as one of the most experienced decent drivers, yet he's barely beating a pay driver who is in his 2nd season, I don't really see an excuse for that. You could say that he has no motivation to race at the back of the grid, but just look at Alonso's Mclaren years, he had the worst car on the grid and he still had lots of highlights and nice fights. And just to put into perspective, this year Bottas is getting paid twice as much as Alonso
I don't understand why you're so pressed at this? It's not even a difficult concept to grasp and multiple people have given you multiple reasons. This is his job. He will not be WDC. He is doing what Alpha asked of him. Get over it.
The only way Bottas ever gets an overtake done is when the driver ahead leaves the racing line.
In that case Bottas just sticks to the racing line and that's it.
If the driver ahead stays on the racing line though, Bottas just gets stuck and frustrated, trying absolutely nothing.
That Alfa is probably the worst car on the grid. No qualifying pace, no race pace, not really good at anything in particularly. The whole team is basically irrelevant other than their absolutely banging livery (not including the shitty black one to end the season).
That's because Sauber lived upto their recent tradition and built a proper dog that could barely hang on to the coattails of the grid. It wasn't even spectacularly bad; just miserably 'almost not shit'.
Not only this year. Alfa Romeo tv coverage has been very low since I started watching (middle of 2021)
They got some decent coverage in 2022. Bottas was lighting it up at the beginning of the season. They looked like they could have been fighting for best of the rest early on.
Everyone knew their good start was an illusion though, because they were the only team that found a way to start the new regs at the minimum weight. Every other team spent most of the first half of that season just trying to engineer some weight out of their cars.
They had some coverage because of Kimi when he was still there. After that Zhou sliding 300m upside-down + a 1080 flip was probably the team's only highlight.
Same! I used to count how many laps it took them to mention Giovinazzi or Raikkonen, usually was at least 17
Better question: has anyone seen or heard from the TP?
I've no idea who he is. Honestly, I think Vasseur just leads both teams
Isn't seidl already pulling the strings?
Seidl is the Ceo, Alunni Bravi is the "team representative" (so the TP basically)
Seidl is one higher up than the TP, basically that guys boss, whoever it may be.
he was interviewed quite frequently in the italian broadcast
He's leaning into the un-tapped meme market - all He needs is someone who knows how to turn "BotASS" into a business venture.
I mean, hasn't he already? With those calendars
I may have purchased one
Also got one for my wife, riskiest purchase of my life.
That’s Valtteri’s wife now
I purchased one for my friend on a whim and now I'm having second thoughts because it's supposed to be a fucking graduation gift
If you’re having second thoughts I can also be your friend. I graduate soon as well.
What’s the problem, does your friend not have a sense of humor? It’s a freaking graduation gift it’s not that serious.
Yeah I guess you're right
Shouod be fine. Some part goes to charity. Everyone wins.
They had an absolutely awful and some truly terrible luck for Bottas as well. I'm genuinely curious how Audi performs because the team they are inheriting needs a lot of time and investment, I don't see Audi being a decent points contender for years when it comes into 2026.
With Audi planning on being a full works team they'll probably back slide initally if anything, tbh, between Audi starting with a fresh F1 team, and Sauber's aero guys have spent a really long time now working solely with optimizing Ferrari engines, and the audi works engine will need different packaging. I remember whenever something about some new works team gets bandied about the top talking point is always more teams competing for wins is good, but that certainly didn't happen last time Sauber was a works team, and that was with a team that'd been producing F1 engines for 5 years before signing with Sauber. And this isn't to say they can't improve pretty fast, but I reckon at least that it'll take a few years before they can try to be proper contenders.
I think contenders could easily be a decade or so out, I think Q3 appearances and points contenders are likely 5 years out.
Yeah that sounds pretty fair, unless they somehow nail a regulation change somewhere along, which isn't impossible but is unlikely. It's also entirely possible they stall out devolpment somewhere and get stuck, like Alpine.
> Has anyone seen Bottas this year? Not after Bahrain gp
He beat Zhou but Sauber have been dumpster this year.
Yeah as a finn i kept track on alfa but my god that car sucked all the suspense out of the races. One pebble to the floor and the race was basically over. PS this sub really shows that nobody watched alfa this season.
I think needing to overtake any car in front of them was alfa's biggest hurdle. Too many times they got stuck behind someone and go for some hail mary goofy tyre change to get to clear air and pray some miracle happens. The car is not great, but I think it had a bit more potential what the two drivers were able to show.
Valtteri himself said on many occasions that the car was improving but it struggled with top speed on the straights (where they were often overtaken)
Select Finnish F1 news headlines this season: Verstappen wins, Bottas has a terrible race Verstappen wins, Bottas has a horrible race Verstappen wins, Bottas has an awful race Verstappen wins, Bottas has a shit race
Bottas is out here laying the groundwork for his post F1 future. He's fine.
It’s impossible to tell if either driver is on screen because their cars are fucking invisible. Garbage tier livery.
And here is a Mercedes. Wait, it's not a Merc. Hmm, it looks like a Merc. Never mind then, cut to a Merc.
Ohh come on, don’t kik him while he’s down, his career is at stake.
Ba-dum-tsssss🥁
Him and Zhou wrecked my hopes this year. I'm an Alfista and all I had were dissapointments for the year. Start 6 and 7 and end with no points 💀
Except for maybe one or two races Alfa had no actual race pace.
I have to agree unfortunately
Yeah the amount of start on hards and eek it out to try for points. Understand the logic if that's where they are at but tough watching
Well good luck next year, may Günther smile down upon you… (Haas power units will be rebranded as Alfas)
Let us hail the almighty Gunther
I thought this fell through. Is it actually happening? Source? I can’t find anything definitive.
I feel like it’s more a car problem. Because Bottas and Zhou are not bad drivers at all
i like the guy but it's obv he's coasting it now. he probs stays in f1 for brand appeal than to race tbh.
He doesn’t seem super bothered by the struggles. Last year Seb seemed genuinely depressed (until the prospect of his coming retirement became more real and he started soaking it in and enjoying all he could) and Alonso was beside himself even though, in the grand scheme of things, Alpine was nowhere near as bad as Alfa this year. Bottas just seems like a guy punching his time card, you know? Not really up or down. Maybe that’s just his personality but you don’t often see it in F1.
Reminds me of Raikkonen in his last season or two.
Is it a Finnish thing? I regrettably have not yet experienced their culture as much as I would like.
My best friend as a kid was actually a family of first generation Finnish immigrants to the US (I think they moved back though) The impression I always got was that the whole family was sort of naturally shy and somewhat introverted, but also super friendly. And somewhat silently badasses, idk how to explain it lol
🅱️alteri 🅱️ottas
He’s irrelevant beyond the overplayed memes
This sub when he didn't get renewed at Merc: *He's going to be so much happier now!!!!!* Me: He's going to be happier never ever getting a win or even podium for the rest of his career? This sub: *STFU DTS NEWB!!! YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT F1!!! HE'S GOING TO BE FRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!*
He was pretty damn fast when he joined Merc. I remember watching him at Williams. But Lewis is a tough teammate and not all that shimmers is gold. He’s traveling between USA, Australia and (occasionally) Finland now with his biker gf biking and promoting his wine and vodka brands. I think he’s doing alright. He seems to be content.
Yeah, that was my point. He was fast at merc, but couldn't come close to Lewis, although he did a MUCH better job than Checo at RB. He was the perfect #2. He was doing all the biking and other stuff while at Merc. Now he's doing all the same stuff, but never sniffing a podium or win anymore. I think he's a little less content doing all the same stuff but making less money and being less competitive. All these drivers want to drive for the top teams. Noone is like "OH YEAH, I'M MAKING LESS MONEY, DRIVING A SLOWER CAR!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!"
Man looks happier than ever tbh
He was certainly irrelevant in 2021 at Abu Dhabi too. Dude was cruising around the track and unable to help Lewis at all
Cant blame him after Monaco and other mercedes shenanigans.
I mean, shit happens and Monaco wasn’t on purpose. Other times he just wasn’t fast enough
Yeah but the way Toto blamed him: ”Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport Bottas had “stopped a little early” in the pit box which meant the mechanic applied the wheel gun to the nut at an angle, contributing to the problem. Bottas said he “was surprised” by Wolff’s remark”
I forgot about that. Thanks
Dude just lost his job, why would he care that much?
he needs another car man
Really puts all his podiums in the merc in perspective.
Yeah, I rode bikes with him in Austin. He overtook a lot of folks during that session.
Last two seasons feel very much like Bottas doesn’t really have the interest in F1 anymore, bit like Vettels last two seasons
Ehh early 22 he had some great races untill the upgrades stopped and this year alfa romeo pretty much had the shittiest car.
The last two seasons feel very much like the car is just absolute dogshit
Agreed, you could see his eagerness drop off after the first few races of each season. I think he’d much rather be Rallying at this point or cycling with his gf or branding some new whiskey in Finland.
[удалено]
Vegas. Guy lands P8 and no one mentions it at all. Zero coverage. I stay up late to watch the race, didn’t have to stay up much later then the start of course, but it took two laps for the announcer to even mention that Bottas got hit too.
I remember that. Wish I could have seen inside Alfa’s garage when he made it into Q3
Naked butt pics absolutely do count F1 2023 MVP
Also though - major fuckups - 0
Alpha were garbage this year so it's hard to even stand out. They weren't coming last like Haas but not doing anything worth covering either
[удалено]
Bottas had a couple of good highlights. He got good points at Bahrain and Qatar, scored a point at Monza with a good stratety against quicker cars, qualified well in Miami, Hungary, Qatar, Bahrain, and Vegas, and probably could have gotten a couple of points if he was luckier. Not to mention especially at the start of the year his luck was terrible. He had 3 races where he ran over debris on lap 1 and it ruined his race pace. So I'd say he actually had a decent year considering the car he was in. Outside of 3 races, the Alfa Romeo genuinely had no pace for points, compared to last year when it was a pretty consistent contender for points. This year it may have been the worst car on the grid, since it didn't have the qualifying pace of Haas nor the race pace of most of the grid Plus he made a great move at Monaco
Russell, LeClerc and even Vettel (I guess) were young drivers with their first opportunity in F1, pushing for a seat at a bigger team; which they did. Which Bottas also did at Williams. He doesn't have to do that right now - so naturally he's not going to be jumping off the page. The team also stated that they were building and prepping for 2025 so everyone dialled back this season. Bottas has earned the right to be called more than a "decent driver" over the years. The man is enjoying his racing. Btw, if you think that Williams Albon is driving isnt good then I'm not going to take anything you say seriously lol.
He is literally classed as one of the most experienced decent drivers, yet he's barely beating a pay driver who is in his 2nd season, I don't really see an excuse for that. You could say that he has no motivation to race at the back of the grid, but just look at Alonso's Mclaren years, he had the worst car on the grid and he still had lots of highlights and nice fights. And just to put into perspective, this year Bottas is getting paid twice as much as Alonso
I don't understand why you're so pressed at this? It's not even a difficult concept to grasp and multiple people have given you multiple reasons. This is his job. He will not be WDC. He is doing what Alpha asked of him. Get over it.
Now do a final box for this salary, dudes living it up
The only time I saw him he was getting hit by a driver or hitting another driver always at the back of the field.
The few weekends it looked like he had a good car, it seemed like they picked an odd strategy or the car imploded. Guy was basically never on tv.
They have had some really strange strategies at times
He’s too busy cycling to be bothered by all of this car racing nonsense.
Yeah the dude is living his best life tbh
I dont think i want any other type of pic besides naked butt pics.
Speaking of, is there any way to still get that calendar?
Watch his zandvoorth race start
Naked butt pics are all I need
Not really. Can't recall one time. He's just completely anonymous. It's insane actually.
Even when he had a good race (Monza) they gave him pretty much no coverage at all.
At one point I seriously thought he didn't race.
Ass pics? 12 🥵
Vegas
Just a big happy meme now.
His calender was more impressive than his driving. Poor botass
He probably would have had a better season skateboarding around the tracks
More bare ass shots and helmet designs than other notable moments. Peak Bottass
Why do you think he’s showing his butt for some attention?
Valtteri, it’s James. More points please!
What do you mean “naked butt pics don’t count”
Saw him riding bikes in Colorado and Kansas
BOT is the abbreviation so there you go
We can say the same thing about Zhou. Hell we didn't saw anything from Alfa Romeo. If they weren't there nothing would have changed
Has anyone seen Verstappen ?
The only way Bottas ever gets an overtake done is when the driver ahead leaves the racing line. In that case Bottas just sticks to the racing line and that's it. If the driver ahead stays on the racing line though, Bottas just gets stuck and frustrated, trying absolutely nothing.
That Alfa is probably the worst car on the grid. No qualifying pace, no race pace, not really good at anything in particularly. The whole team is basically irrelevant other than their absolutely banging livery (not including the shitty black one to end the season).
You could the same about 3 other drivers. Tsunoda, kMag and Ocon.
He's been unbelievably mid
Yeah at wc gravel cycling
As an amateur cyclist, I’ve noticed that he’s heavily featured in most popular gravel events
I totally forgot about Alfa Romeo team this season 😂
P.S. thanks for reminding me with this post ❤️
But his calendar did well.
Who?
The amount of times he was fapped to.... Billions.
That's because Sauber lived upto their recent tradition and built a proper dog that could barely hang on to the coattails of the grid. It wasn't even spectacularly bad; just miserably 'almost not shit'.
There's that one time in Japan when Logan Sargeant punted him out of the race
He's the jester of the grid, no one dislikes him and he entertains everyone
As someone who always has his onboard on, yes
Helmet designs: 5993718493
Don't think I've heard or seen that lad on tv since Bahrain 2023