Valtteri Bottas doesn’t brake on Kimi Antonelli and George Russell

Valtteri Bottas, former Mercedes driver now at Cadillac, spoke in Barcelona about the incredible start to the season of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has won the last five races of the World Championship surprising everyone. “Kimi has made an impressive leap during the winter,” explained the Finn, last year’s Mercedes reserve driver and therefore in close contact with the Bolognese.

“I expected a step forward for his second year, that’s what normally happens, but I think Kimi has surprised everyone, including his team. He is running at a very high level, he doesn’t make mistakes and he is incredibly fast,” Bottas continued. “That’s the trend in sports today: the guys start preparing earlier, they have more tools to learn and become strong right away.”

In Mercedes, an uncomfortable situation has arisen with George Russell, who is struggling: “George has definitely not been the luckiest guy so far, but when a rookie comes to the team and immediately signs these results, it becomes a really tough situation for those in George’s position. The season is still long and can turn things around, but I’m sure right now everyone would rather be in Kimi’s shoes than George’s.”

The Cadillac is struggling and is still far behind the top teams: “This year I still haven’t found the right feeling with the car, we suffer from a lot of inconsistency in setup and even some sensors keep failing, making it difficult to measure performance. In simulator testing we can’t replicate the balance we then find on the track, and often after FP1 we are forced to overturn everything.”