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Valtteri Bottas looks like a rejuvenated soul in the paddock this season. The Finnish driver is driving for Alfa Romeo and is currently on a streak of 104 consecutive top-10 starts. The only drivers ahead of him on the record are Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna with 109 and 137 starts respectively.
Title contentions, or even wins or podiums, may not be much of a realistic choice these days with Bottas driving an Alfa Romeo. The Finn, however, has found a new target where he aims to continue extending his run of consecutive top-10 qualifying positions. Speaking to the media about his goals, Bottas indirectly spoke of targeting Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna's records. He said:
“I think I need to keep my Q3 streak going. I don’t want to give up on that so that should be the goal and I think it is realistic but it is so close getting into the top 10. But I believe we have the car to do it if we set it up right.”
Valtteri Bottas: We're losing a bit in high-speed corners
Valtteri Bottas was P7 in Q2 behind the two Alpine cars and was more or less in line with the progress made with the car. The Finnish driver, however, did reveal some teething issues with the car as well as it was struggling with high-speed rear stability. He said:
“It was nice to be able to progress with a set up today so definitely, the car was improved in practice two compared to practice one. I was still battling a bit with high-speed rear stability in the high-speed corners so we’re definitely losing there but still, in the low-speed corners, medium-speed corners, the car is pretty good but I’m sure we can still make it better.”
Bottas has made a positive start to the season contrary to expectations. Alfa Romeo has been somewhat underwhelming in the last few seasons with a string of uncompetitive cars. This season, however, the team has turned things around and produced a car that is well entrenched in the midfield.
Both Valtteri Bottas and his teammate Guanyu Zhou scored points in the first race of the season. If it wasn't for the reliability issue, Bottas was on course for points in Saudi Arabia as well. Moreover, like a mini redemption story, the Finn has been able to outqualify at least one of the Mercedes drivers in both the races. Bottas finds himself in a happy place this season with Alfa Romeo and it reflects on his results.
