Alfa Romeo's Alessandro Alunni Bravi praises Valtteri Bottas' contribution to the team's success

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo's team representative, has credited Valtteri Bottas, the team's driver, with helping the team to grow and instil a winning culture.

Bottas joined Alfa Romeo in 2022 after racing alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for five years. He finished the 2022 season in 10th place with 49 points.

Despite facing mixed fortunes in 2023, Alunni Bravi believes that Bottas will continue to stay in Formula 1 and challenge for podiums and wins again. "He wants to come back to fight for podiums, for wins. This is the ambition for every driver, of course, but he wants to be [fighting at the front]," Alunni Bravi told media.

Alunni Bravi praised Bottas' contribution to the team's success, saying, "His presence during each week, coming to the workshop, working with the engineers, working on the simulator, having speeches with our employees to motivate our group with them here, working together with Zhou [Guanyu]."

He also emphasised that Bottas' contribution to the team works well alongside that of Zhou, who completed his rookie season with the outfit in 2022. "Valtteri is important, as important as Zhou. This is why we think that we have a good mix of driver."

Bottas' arrival at Alfa Romeo has helped to instil a winning culture that was previously seen at Mercedes. Alunni Bravi said, "It was important last year for us, because he instilled in the team this winning culture that Mercedes had. Maybe from outside, you didn't notice this too much, but it was really important."

The next F1 race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that will be held on 30 April, one of the most challenging and punishing circuits on the F1 calendar, pitting drivers against some of the tightest corners and fastest straights around on the Baku City Circuit.