F1: Bottas perceives "big responsibility" to be Alfa Romeo F1 Leader

Valtteri Bottas is relishing taking on the responsibility of being Alfa Romeo Formula 1's team leader after spending years as Lewis Hamilton's shadow at Mercedes.

During five seasons with Mercedes, Bottas only accomplished 10 wins and 58 podiums while Hamilton won four world championships. As George Russell becomes Hamilton's new teammate, Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo, where he will be the team's first driver alongside Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou. 

Bottas shares that "Alfa Romeo has a great heritage in the automotive industry and also racing, so driving for the brand is a big responsibility."

One of the focuses Alfa Romeo is trying to perfect is its brand-new driver-in-the-loop simulator, which was developed in 2019 but did not get used until the 2021 season due to the delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Bottas comments that Alfa Romeo is "definitely a bit smaller, but I feel like it can also have an advantage in terms of how quickly you can react to different things. You don't need to go through 10 people, you can just go to one person and say what we need to do. So, it's nice."