Valtteri Bottas has explained why he chose to sign for Alfa Romeo rather than return to Williams for 2022.

The Finn, who had won 10 Grand Prix's with Mercedes during his five-year spell with the team, announced shortly before last year’s Italian Grand Prix that he would be leaving the Brackley based team to join Alfa Romeo Racing in place of his retiring countryman Kimi Raikkonen.

Bottas’s departure from Mercedes paved the way for Williams’s George Russell to join the team for the 2022 season.

During an interview with Tom Clarkson for the Beyond the Grid podcast, Bottas explained the reasons why he feels confident that he can help Alfa Romeo move up the grid after two turbulent seasons, which has seen the Hinwil-based team finish eighth and ninth in the constructors' championship.

“I feel like they have; there is work to do definitely; obviously, the good thing with Formula 1 in the future is the budget (cap) within the teams because they’re going to be the same or if there are differences they're quite minimal. Alfa Romeo has agreed to support the team at least for the next two years; they have really talented engineers, a great factory, a great wind tunnel, they have a good simulator that still has work to do, but I can help with that, I see all the ingredients are there for much better results then what they are doing now.”

“I believe this regulation change that is happening is a great opportunity. With the knowledge I have (of) how early the teams switch to the development of the new car and from what I’ve seen so far, I am confident if we work hard and together, anything’s possible.”

However, Alfa Romeo wasn’t the only team to offer Bottas a drive for 2022, as the Finn revealed that Williams came close to snatching his signature.

“Yes, there was an option, for me, I think realistically for the long-term, at that point with not so many options, it was either Williams or Alfa Romeo. It was not (an) easy position; I tried to dig (for) as much information as I could from both sides and at the same time listen to my gut feeling, based on the information that I had, it was not easy, I really feel like Williams is on the upside now, I think they have a good future, but somehow I had a feeling that Alfa was the right thing for me. Also, it was kind of nice to go to a non-Mercedes linked team.”

Despite having a heavy collision with Russell in last year's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Bottas gave some advice to his successor on how he should approach the second Mercedes seat.

“Just give yourself a bit of lead, don’t think too short-term because it’s a sport that there's so much to learn and yeah take things step by step, but he is a talented driver, and he’s going to have a great team to support him. He’s going to be alongside Lewis, who he will be able to learn from, so I don’t think I need to give too many (pieces of) advice. Maybe the mistake I made was that I was a bit too harsh on myself in the very beginning. He will be fine, I am sure.”