Valtteri Bottas looking to battle against Lewis Hamilton in the Bahrain GP - "They were slower than us"

Valtteri Bottas has said that there's a possibility that the Alfa Romeo F1 team might challenge the likes of Mercedes at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

The former Mercedes driver looked in high spirits after pre-season testing at the Sakhir International Circuit last week. Despite an engine issue late in the test, the Swiss-based outfit looked fast, reliable, and consistent throughout their three days in Bahrain.

As per The Mirror, Bottas said that he might be competing against his former teammate Lewis Hamilton on the track in 2023. He said:

"Not as fast as Red Bull, not as fast as Ferrari, and Aston Martin also looked faster in race pace. But other than that, it's really close. As you said, the time of the day makes a big difference, engine modes can make a difference up to one second per lap, but taking that into account we should be in the mix."

He continued:

"From the long runs, it seemed we could. There were some runs in which they were faster than us, but then there were times in which they were slower than us. It really depends if they managed to fix any issues that they potentially had, but from our numbers, they didn't look like they were going to be fighting for the win. But you never know."

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"The feeling with the car is quite positive" - Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas added that the team experienced far fewer issues in the 2023 pre-season testing compared to last year. Speaking to PlanetF1, he said:

“(We had) some issues, but it’s part of testing and way less than last year. The feeling with the car is quite positive. But, as always in testing, it’s impossible to read where you are exactly. But it seems like we’re more or less on target. We had an issue, I stopped on the track. Something to do with the power unit, so they’re still investigating. It caused a little bit of a delay, but we still got plenty of laps.”

Bottas added:

“We’re way, way better than last year at this point. I think we are well prepared – as well as you can with three days in the season.”

Many have predicted the duo of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou to guide Alfa Romeo to multiple points finishes this season and battle in the upper midfield.