In an exclusive interview for RacingNews365.com (https://racingnews365.com/exclusive-alfa-romeo-boss-details-what-he-expects-from-bottas), Alfa Romeo team boss, Frederic Vasseur spoke about Valtteri’s role for the team. He hopes he can build the team around Bottas at his arrival.

The Finn will join Alfa Romeo, on a multi-year deal starting from 2022, after contributing alongside Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes four successive Constructors’ Wolrd Championship, and an expected fifth one at the end of 2021.

In the exclusive interview, Vasseur gave the diferent reasons of the team to sign Valtteri Bottas, making sure it was clear that he expects the Finn driver to lead Alfa Romeo to a new era.

"If you have a look over the last three or four seasons, Valtteri was always on the podium of the championship," said Vasseur.

"He's shown compared to Lewis huge potential in terms of pace. He was always very close with Lewis in qualification.

"On top of this, because it's not the absolute preference for me, the speed, I think Valtteri is looking for a project where he could be the leader. We are looking for a leader for the next couple of years. I think that we can build a project around Valtteri.

"If you have a look at the last 25 years in F1, all the good projects were built up around a driver – always. You have Renault with [Fernando] Alonso, Red Bull with [Sebastian] Vettel, Schumi [Michael Schumacher] with Ferrari and Lewis with Mercedes.

"We need to build a project around someone and I'm fully convinced that Valtteri could be this one."

Vasseur later added that the multi-year contract Alfa Romeo signed with Bottas was beneficial for both parties.

"I think on both sides we were looking for something similar," added Vasseur.

"Valtteri was looking for a kind of stability. It's not a matter to be in a comfort zone, it's just to be able to have a long-term commitment.

"We were looking for the same thing, because we know that the next [regulation change] is a huge opportunity for us."