2023 F1 Australian GP: Valtteri Bottas shares how Alfa Romeo can beat midfield rivals ahead of ‘home race’ in Melbourne

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas reckons his team has a good shot of beating their midfield rivals in Australia if they put in a strong performance from the very start of the weekend. The sport heads to Melbourne this weekend for the 2023 Australian GP.

Valtteri Bottas considers the race at Albert Park similar to a 'home race' as he is dating Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell. The Alfa Romeo driver spent some time last week driving V8 supercars in the country, showing his love for the land Down Under.

Meanwhile, in the world of F1, his team hasn't got the start they would have liked. The Finnish driver finished the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP in net last place, ahead of the two drivers who DNF'd.

The current competitive nature of the sport makes it difficult for midfield teams to score points on the regular. However, the former Mercedes driver reckons the team can fight for solid points in Australia if they put in strong performances from the very start of the weekend.

Valtteri Bottas told PitPass:

"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."

Valtteri Bottas skeptical of future F1 rule

Valtteri Bottas expressed his doubts about the new F1 regulation that prohibits the use of tire blankets before installing new tires.

This rule will come into effect in the following year, and for the current season, the temperature in the tire blanket has been modified. Bottas' former teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton criticized the new rule, referring to it as 'pointless'.

Speaking to RacingNews365, Bottas gave his thoughts on the rule and said:

"It's quite a new concept for Formula 1 cars, with the amount of load we have in the cars, and having such a tire that works from low temperature to high is not easy to make."

"I think Pirelli is really working hard on it. Obviously, warm-up is a bit of an issue when you don't have blankets. But Bahrain is probably the easiest track to get the tires to warm up. So it was actually manageable."

He added:

"The pressure rise is massive when you start cold and when you end up 100°C so that obviously makes the tire drop-off significantly worse. In my personal opinion, I don't feel that's the way to go but I think they're working really hard and it's obviously not up to us what's going to happen in the future."

Inadequate tire warmups could potentially lead to massive crashes in the sport. It remains to be seen how the new regulations will impact the direction of the sport.