Bottas questioned his F1 future before Alfa Romeo Move

Bottas was unsure about his future...

Valtteri Bottas has admitted that he was considering whether he would continue in F1 in his final years at Mercedes before deciding to switch over to Alfa Romeo. 

In an interview with formula1.com, Bottas spoke about the importance of embarking on a new chapter with Alfa Romeo and the team's targets for this year:

"It does [feel like a new era]. It definitely is a new chapter, and I feel so much energy.

A couple of years ago, I might have been thinking about how long I want to continue in F1, but now I'm like, there are so many years ahead, and I am enjoying it. 

The team was really, really welcoming, and they are really nice people to work with. Now it feels even with just [some] races, I've been here for a long, long time, so the teamwork is at a good level.

It's a new situation for me, I've never had a younger or a less experienced teammate before, so it's new. But he's such a nice guy, and he's asking for advice, so for me, it's quite easy to try and help him.

I think that's a good target for this year [finishing fourth]. Coming into this season, that would have been kind of an aggressive target for the first year together, but now it seems like a reality, and it is possible. And I think everyone in the team is definitely aiming for that."

A combination of factors has impacted Alfa Romeo's ability to keep fourth position in the standings, including their reliability issues and the improvements made by their midfield rivals.

However, Alfa's Zhou Guanyu is performing at a far higher level than at the start of the season, so the Swiss team will be hoping to maximise their points and hunt down their rivals in upcoming rounds.