"Not necessarily a bad thing" - Valtteri Bottas on size comparison between Mercedes and Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas believes Alfa Romeo's smaller size compared to top teams such as Mercedes wouldn't matter much in their quest to progress up the grid. The Finn moved to the Swiss outfit at the end of last season after five years at Brackley.

When asked of his experience moving from a bigger team to a smaller outfit, he said during a media session at the Barcelona pre-season testing:

“I would say that you definitely feel the difference. First of all, the size of the team, it’s quite a bit smaller, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and so far, I have been enjoying it."

Bottas added that he is still in the 'adaptation phase', getting himself acquainted with everything in and around his team, saying:

“There are so many new people and new things to get used to and learn. And still I would say I'm in the adaptation phase of actually getting properly to know the team and how everything works, but that's part of learning. I would say it's been a pretty quick process of getting used to it."

Bottas says that despite the smaller scale of operation, he has been getting 'good vibes' from the team. Nevertheless, the team had a pretty rough outing in Barcelona, with Bottas and his rookie teammate Guanyu Zhou only managing a paltry 175 laps across three days of running.

Nevertheless, Bottas is optimistic of the team's ability to fix their issues by the time the F1 bandwagon arrives in Bahrain for the 'official' pre-season testing. He added in this regard:

“Good vibes. I have been really enjoying it, and with a bit more track time, I would be even happier, but at least it has been fun.”

Mercedes expected to bring 'big, big upgrade' to Bahrain test

Mercedes will reportedly bring a 'massive upgrade' to the second pre-season testing in Bahrain next weekend, according to F1 journalist Tom Clarkson.

The W13 will reportedly be completely different compared to the 'basic' spec the team brought to Barcelona. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, which he hosts, Clarkson said:

“We're getting a big, big upgrade for Bahrain from Mercedes, so it's going to be different.”

Mercedes had a relatively quiet pre-season testing in Barcelona, focussing largely on data gathering, while teams such as Ferrari and McLaren stole the show.

Nevertheless, the reigning world champions managed to accumulate the second-most mileage of any team, just behind Ferrari, finishing the test with the fastest and second fastest overall times.