Valtteri Bottas has enjoyed a strong start to life at Alfa Romeo delivering a superb P6 at the season opener in Bahrain.

He was performing admirably in Saudi Arabia only for an overheating issue to scupper his chances of consecutive points finishes for his new team.

The Alfa Romeo C42 has shown good speed with Bottas driving to Q3 at both races so far in 2022.

The Finn is optimistic about the Swiss team’s chances of something special this season after an impressive start to the campaign.

Bottas told people.com: "I just feel like the only way is up.

"It felt good, getting both cars into top 10 in our first race together was a great start. 

“It gives a lot of courage and motivation that this project is real and the goals we have set can be achieved.

“And I could sense that with the whole team as well. I feel people are working harder than ever. 

“That's the feeling. Because we know that it's so close now between the teams, it's still in the early days [of the season], and if you can make progress, it's actually going to show immediate results.

“But you almost have this fear, as well, that you don't want to go backward. You want to always progress, and that makes people work hard. And the same for me. 

“It's a joy to put the effort in, to try and progress with everything. I really feel like I'm in a good place now.”

Bottas also spoke about his obsession for Formula 1 and how different his life would be without it.

He said: “If I would imagine life without Formula 1, it wouldn't be quite the same. 

“But eventually, I'm sure it'll be quite natural where you had enough of giving everything you have every single year and living out of the suitcase. But for now, I'm pretty obsessed.”