"Mercedes and George were my motivation" - Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas hopes to win on-track battle with George Russell next time

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas hopes to secure a win against George Russell on track in the upcoming races.

The former Mercedes driver had an epic battle with the young Briton towards the end of the race, nearly taking P4 in the race.

Bottas delivered Alfa Romeo's best result in more than two years, finding good rhythm once on slick tires. However, the Finnish driver suffered a slow pitstop, claiming he could have beaten Russell to the line if not for the extra time taken to fit all four tires.

The driver has also claimed that he was especially motivated to get past Russell at the end of the race as he is the driver who has replaced him at Mercedes this year.

Bottas said of his tussle with Russell:

"Mercedes and George were my motivation throughout the race, to push every lap and hopefully get the chance in the end - but in the end I didn't quite make it. Without that, things might have turned out differently."

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Valtteri Bottas claims the upcoming Miami GP track looks 'pretty amazing' after sim run

Valtteri Bottas revealed that he enjoyed the virtual simulation of the Miami GP circuit. He believes the circuit has a lot of opportunities to overtake and expects it to produce some good track action.

Speaking at the FIA drivers’ press conference, the Alfa Romeo driver said:

"I did last week. Proper running there in the sim. And actually, was nice to see, that it seems to be a really good track for overtaking. Like, I think the way the track has been planned, I think, from my side, it looks positive."

"It should be good racing. Yeah, pretty long straights and a couple of really good overtaking opportunities. So, let’s see how it is done in real life but to me on paper, it looks good. And I’m sure as an event it’s going to be pretty amazing."

However, the lack of real on-track experience at the newly built circuit means drivers and teams will have to wait to see if the track is good for overtaking.

According to Charles Metcalfe, an engineer for Apex Design (the company that designed the Miami GP circuit), the new circuit was designed with racing as the primary focus. He said:

"Racing comes first and foremost in our company’s design philosophy. Our ethos is to challenge all of the F1 teams, their cars, their race engineers and, of course, their drivers."

"So we focus on corner sequences, a dynamic range of corners – from fast-speed to low-speed – and to achieve this we do a lot of simulation work and intentionally ensure there are different corner sequences in a lap which flatter different vehicle set ups."

Valtteri Bottas and others will be excited to see F1's debut race in Miami, which is set to take place on May 8th, 2022.

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Also Check Out :-F1 Results 2022