Bottas Russell battles 'nothing personal'

Russell, Mercedes, Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Valtteri Bottas

Bottas Russell battles 'nothing personal'

Russell took Bottas' seat at Mercedes

Ewan Gale

Sunday 15 May 2022 15:30

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Former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has insisted his recent battles with George Russell have not been 'personal'.

The Finn left Mercedes to join Alfa Romeo with Russell chosen as his replacement after almost two seasons of speculation over the seat alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Last year, the two drivers collided at Imola with the seemingly frosty relationship captured as part of Netflix series Drive to Survive.

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Bottas has out-qualified both Silver Arrows in the previous two races before going on to battle Russell on track at both the Emilia Romagna and Miami Grands Prix.

When asked if the battles were 'personal', Bottas replied: "No, it's points.

"We're chasing points and always, you know, just really trying to maximise every opportunity, every position you can make and obviously, it was a nice target for me [in Imola], because, you know, from me to the end of the race, there wasn't really much action around me.

"So I was catching him like a few tenths a lap, and that just gets me pushing. And the target was more points rather than a person.

"So, you know, that's how it goes."

Bottas "enjoying" life at Alfa Romeo

Bottas' switch has allowed him to step out of the shadows of seven-time champion Hamilton and become a team leader at Hinwil and help bring the team up from ninth in last year's constructors' standings alongside rookie Guanyu Zhou.

Asked how he was finding life at Alfa Romeo, Bottas said: "I'm enjoying it a lot.

"You know, we started the season with the first race, you know, with points and what I've been really enjoying is the progress we've been able to make together as a team.

"So we're definitely not falling back. And that is a motivation for us to go ahead rather than backwards. And yeah, I'm really, really enjoying the ride."

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes