What a way to start the 2022 season! The first qualifying session of the season brought in many surprises and many unexpected results. One such surprise was Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas finishing the session in P6.

When asked if his result surprised him, Bottas mentioned he was not really shocked. The Alfa Romeo driver said, “Yes, and no. This morning I was thinking maybe P6, P7 somewhere there could be quite nice. But actually, even like splitting Mercedes cars is pretty cool.”

Bottas, who had shown consistent pace throughout the weekend, finished in the top-10 in Free Practice 2 and Free Practice 3. However, no one had expected that his practice performance would translate into qualifying and he would challenge Mercedes.

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Bottas did just that as he finished just a couple of tenths behind this former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and beat his Mercedes replacement-George Russell.

Valtteri Bottas will share the third row with Lewis Hamilton

By finishing P6, Bottas slotted himself right on the tail of Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, his replacement, George Russell, will begin the race in P9. After his good drive on Saturday, the Finn was confident that the Swiss team can compete with the world champions for points.

“There’s no reason why not… I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to fight with any team except Red Bull and Ferrari. They seem to be in their own league. But with the rest, for sure, we can fight with them,” said Bottas.

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It would be some feat if Alfa Romeo can finish ahead of the Mercedes in the Bahrain GP as well. This would mark a big statement from the Finnish driver to his old team and would be a perfect start with his new team.

There is no possible reason Valtteri Bottas cannot compete in the race as well as he showed consistent pace in race simulations in practice.