Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake’s Valtteri Bottas is ready to hit the track for the third round of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the ever-eventful Australian Grand Prix, and is motivated to add to his points tally in Albert Park.
With his love for the land down under, Bottas said that the event feels like a home race to him, and that he looks forward to tackling this round after an exciting weekend at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise that I love it here in Australia – everyone knows that by now! I consider this almost a home race: I was at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival last weekend, where I drove an Aussie V8 and a classic Alfa Romeo touring car – so I’m already in the mood for racing.”
With the field as tight and competitive as it is, Bottas is confident in the team’s ability to make a turn around in Albert Park after finishing in eighteenth place, in part due to damage he took, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Coming off being the last classified driver in Jeddah, Bottas hopes for a “strong” weekend off the onset in order to get back into points contention.
“I am really keen on scoring a good result for the team on a track I like: I strongly believe our car has the potential to do well, and leave the tough weekend we had in Saudi behind.
“We have seen how close everyone is this season, but if we put out a strong performance from the very start of the weekend, we’ll be able to get back in the points.”
“We know what we need to do to bring home the points” – Zhou Guanyu
Team-mate Zhou Guanyu also rates Albert Park highly, where he came within a position to a points result with an eleventh place finish last year. As well, he enjoys seeing such a high turn-out of supportive Chinese fans.
“Last year’s race in Melbourne was one of my favourite races of the season and I’m looking forward to going back. The Chinese community here is quite big, and it was great to feel their support from the grandstands from day one: I am sure there will be just as many fans cheering for us this season.”
Zhou believes that the team’s rough performance in Jeddah will not dictate the outcome of their weekend in Australia, with their encouraging result at the Bahrain Grand Prix still at the front of mind.
“After the strong performance in Bahrain, we expected more from Jeddah, but the race in Saudi didn’t shake our belief in being capable of fighting at a high level again in Melbourne.”
With thirteenth and sixteenth place results to his name so far this year, Zhou will be eager to get off the ground by scoring points in Albert Park. He said that the team is aware of the task ahead, and will be bringing upgrades to try out during practice this weekend.
“We know what we need to do to bring home the points: we also have some updates to test, and we’re confident we can have a successful weekend.”
