Valtteri Bottas eyeing fight with ex-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Bahrain GP

Valtteri Bottas thinks his Alfa Romeo team might have the pace to scrap with Mercedes for points in Bahrain this weekend.

It remains to be seen what the balance of power will be at the start of this new Formula 1 season. Testing provided some insights – and made it fairly clear Red Bull will be the ones to beat again – but other than that the order is very much up in the air.

Ferrari are confident and will be a strong contender for the podium. Mercedes would expect to be there as well, but there is concern that they could start the new season off the pace again – but this time with more rivals waiting to challenge them.

Such was the pace of the Aston Martin in pre-season that they are being touted as dark horses for a podium finish this weekend. Alpine have also been bullish about their new car, while Bottas is clearly feeling happy about the competitiveness of his C43.

Asked about the pace of his car, he told reporters: "Not as fast as Red Bull, not as fast as Ferrari and also Aston Martin looked faster in race pace.

"But other than that, it's really close. Like you said, the time of the day makes a big difference, engine modes can make a difference up to one second per lap but taking that into account we should be in the mix."

Alfa Romeo's C43 could match the Mercedes W14 for race pace, Bottas feels (AP)

His omission of former team Mercedes, for whom he drove for five years alongside Lewis Hamilton did not go unnoticed. Asked specifically about the possibility of challenging the Silver Arrows, Bottas replied: "From the long runs, it seemed we could.

"There were some runs in which they were faster than us, but then there were times in which they were slower than us. It really depends if they managed to fix any issues that they potentially had, but from our numbers they didn't look like they were going to be fighting for the win. But you never know."

Alfa Romeo finished sixth in the constructors' standings last year thanks to their strong start to the campaign. Results tailed off in the second part of the year but they just about held off Aston Martin and will look to maintain their momentum a little more in 2023.