Bottas wants fourth US F1 race at iconic circuit

Valtteri Bottas has revealed which US track he would like to see added to the calendar, should Formula 1 chose to add a fourth American race.

This weekend in Miami kicks off the first of three visits to the US in 2023, with the official United States GP and a return to Las Vegas set for the home straight of the campaign – the Vegas race taking place on the strip on Saturday night primetime.

F1 is keen to capitalise on the boom it is experiencing stateside in recent years, with talks of a potential fourth race, although nothing has been officially decided.

And Alfa Romeo driver Bottas – who won at Austin in 2019 – has selected the iconic track he’d like to see added to the calendar in the future.

Bottas’s dream US race

Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365 in Miami, the Finn selected a venue which has held IndyCar and MotoGP races in the past, but never an official F1 event.

“Laguna Seca would be nice, but I’ve never been,” he explained, referring to the track home to the famous ‘corkscrew’ corner.

“I don’t know [if it’s possible with these cars], but it is a good question.

“But I haven’t been and so have only seen it on TV or through video games.”

Laguna is a 2.2 mile, 11 turn circuit located in California, near the costal city of Monterey, north of Los Angeles.

It currently hosts the IndyCar season-finale, and was previously in the running for an F1 race in the late 1980s, but lost out to Phoenix.

It is home to the famous downhill ‘corkscrew’ section of track, where future Williams F1 racer Alex Zanardi memorably overtook Bryan Herta (father of F1-linked Colton) for the lead on the last lap in 1996.

Miami similar to Baku for Alfa

Bottas has endured a tricky start to the 2023 season with Alfa, his only points coming in the opener in Bahrain with eighth place.

Since then, he has recorded finishes of 18th, 11th, and 18th, as Alfa have had a slow start – with the 10-time Grand Prix winner admitting that the Miami circuit is quite similar in nature to Baku.

“It’s been a challenging start, and we’ve definitely got lots of work to do,” he said.

“Miami as a track is quite similar to Baku, with long straights and some really narrow sections, but what is different is that you have more high speed corners here in Miami in the first sector.

“It’s hard to predict as we are definitely a bit out of place compared to where we want to be, so I hope it’s going to be a bit better, but we don’t have upgrades as such for this week, so let’s hope the track suits us better.

“The feeling [with the car] is not so bad in terms of balance and the feeling, it’s a lot about the aero efficiency and trying to gain a bit more grip, but as the same time, remove some drag, but overall, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the car performance.”

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