Formula One star Valtteri Bottas pays Mooroopna a visit ahead of Australian Grand Prix

If you weren’t aware of his exploits on the Formula One track, you would think he was as true blue as they come.

And on Tuesday afternoon Bottas, who is in Melbourne preparing for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, continued his exploration in the Goulburn Valley where he visited Mooroopna’s Save the Children Kindergarten.

An ambassador for the Save the Children organisation, Bottas made the trip to announce a fundraising opportunity where he will auction one of his race helmets from the weekend to raise funds for the Mooroopna early learning centre, which experienced significant damage during last year’s floods.

The helmet, which was designed by Indigenous artist Rickey Kildea, features his favourite colour blue with its patterns a nod to the Alfa Romeo driver’s love of Australia and its culture.

He also sat in the hot-seat and faced a Q&A session from the students at Mooroopna’s Save the Children Kindergarten, where he lifted the lid on the glamorous life of an F1 driver.

Bottas said it was a thrill to take the time out of his busy grand prix preparation to visit communities in need and see a new part of what is quickly becoming his favourite country.

“The more I’ve seen, the more I’ve fallen in love with the country and the lifestyle, just the scenery and the people and everything is so nice,” Bottas said.

“So it is nice to always be seeing new places and this is a part of Victoria I haven’t seen before, so it is nice to get out and meet new people and see more of the country.

“Coming up for something like this as well, it is always nice to see that I can bring some joy, whether making someone’s day, week or even month sometimes apparently.

“It is a small thing for me, but if it helps them it gives me joy and motivates me for the race on the weekend.”

While Bottas has quickly become a fan favourite in Australia, the allegiances of the Goulburn Valley this weekend will still lie heavily with young gun Oscar Piastri.

Piastri, who is embarking on his rookie season in Formula One at McLaren, has strong family ties to Shepparton with both sets of grandparents living in the town.

His first two races in the top flight have been a baptism by fire for the 21-year-old, who recorded a DNF in the season opener in Bahrain before crossing the line in 15th place in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the tough start to the Aussie young gun’s F1 career, Bottas said he had been impressed with how Piastri had handled himself and had no doubt he would be a success at the highest level.

“I think he made a good step from the first to the second race,” Bottas said.

“The first one is always nerve-racking as a rookie, but I think he’s absolutely got the talent and he seems like a smart young driver.

“It seems like he is fitting in well with the team and has fit in well around the paddock too.

“I’ve got no doubt he is going to have a good career ahead of him and he’s a nice kid.”

As for Bottas himself, the start to the season as been a bit hit-and-miss, as he began with an impressive eighth-placed finish in Bahrain, before slumping to 18th in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago.

He said a myriad of technical problems were to blame for the poor showing in his last outing and was confident the team had worked out its issues ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

“What gives me confidence for this weekend is that we have found some issues in my car from the last race and that can explain why the result wasn’t ideal,” he said.

“So now I can just focus on the good result we had in the first race and I am confident we can score good points.

“The beauty of this sport is you don’t know what opportunities there are ahead, I am always secretly dreaming of that first podium with this team and that is my goal (for the race this weekend).

“But consistency is the key for us and hopefully we can score good points with both cars.”