Valtteri Bottas has explained how it felt to see Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes struggle in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following his departure from the team at the end of last year. Hamilton suffered a shock exit in Q1 during Saturday's session - marking the first time that this has happened to the Briton since 2017 - as he struggled to get to grips with the W13. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell had a slightly better day and finished the hour in P6. As for Bottas, the Finn continued to perform well in the Alfa Romeo and secured P8 on the grid, beating new teammate Zhou Guanyu who qualified in 13th.
Bottas: "Weird" to see Hamilton struggling
Bottas admits that it was strange to watch Hamilton having difficulties with the car in Saturday's session. "It's weird to see," he told media including RacingNews365.com . "I would guess he had some kind of issue, I don't know." Whilst the problems that Mercedes are facing might have come as a surprise, Bottas is still enjoying having the opportunity to compete against his former team. "It is surprising to see them struggling, but it's also nice to be able to battle with them," the Finnish driver said.
Start to Alfa Romeo career has been "best case scenario"
Following his switch to Alfa Romeo from the Silver Arrows, Bottas has had a strong start to the year, having finished the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in sixth place in a double points finish for the team. Overall, Bottas feels very happy that he made the decision to join the Swiss outfit. "I think this was kind of the best case scenario for our first season together that I could ever imagine, with the information I had," the 10-time race winner explained. "I'm really happy with the decision I made, and I'm happy overall as well. So yeah, [I'm] enjoying it."
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