Jean Alesi says Valtteri Bottas is doing a 'superb job' at Alfa Romeo at the moment, with the Finn having a strong 2022 campaign so far.

Alfa started this season in brilliant form with them arguably the third-quickest car out on track, ahead of even the likes of Mercedes.

A lack of significant upgrades towards the summer break, compared to Alpine and McLaren, though, has gradually seen them fall a little down the pecking order, and that is something they will be aiming to rectify once the season resumes at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of this month.

The team have a good driver pairing, though, with the experience of Bottas proving very useful alongside Zhou Guanyu, who has shown himself to be a talented driver with good pace in his rookie year in F1.

Bottas, of course, was a big signing for Alfa going into the new season after he left Mercedes at the end of 2021 and he has shown why the team was excited to get him, with regular points finishes on the board as well as good qualifying performances.

Speaking to Give Me Sport, Alesi has also been impressed with what the Finn has done so far this year with his new team:

"You know, it was quite funny sometimes at the beginning of the year to see Lewis [Hamilton] behind him because I cannot imagine Lewis expected to read Alfa Romeo on the rear wing of the car in front.

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Alfa Romeo F1 C42 Ferrari on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone on July 02, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

"But so far he's done a superb job because it's not a top team and he's qualified the car many times in a good position and at the end brought to the team good points."

As mentioned, Alpine and McLaren are a little ahead of Alfa in the Constructors' standings at the moment but things are still very open in that battle for fourth place and, with three races back-to-back-to-back coming up at the end of the summer break, there's an opportunity to really swing the momentum quickly ahead of the run-in.

The 2022 Formula 1 world championship resumes with the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug 26-28.