Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43 and Zhou Guanyu (CHN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43 on the grid. 30.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 13, Belgian Grand Prix, Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, Race Day.
Valtteri Bottas has revealed that Alfa Romeo will introduce upgrades after the summer break that he hopes will return the team to points-scoring contention.
Alfa Romeo has struggled considerably throughout the 2023 Formula 1 season, having only scored nine points across the first 12 races to languish ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Italian marque proved uncompetitive around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with Bottas and team-mate Zhou Guanyu qualifying 14th and 17th respectively.
While both drivers made strong progress to climb the order in the race, Bottas, who took the chequered flag in 12th, asserts that he extracted the maximum result possible.
“It was quite straightforward, the only thing was the start, I had to go off the track before Turn 1, I was next to Yuki and he was just drifting to the right, so that was pretty much and the only thing is that I lost quite a lot of momentum, otherwise it was quite straightforward, and we fought back.
“That was the pace we had today, around 12th quickest.”
Despite introducing updates at Silverstone designed to improve the performance of its C43 car in high-speed corners, Alfa Romeo arrived in Spa expecting to struggle.
However, Bottas concedes he was pleasantly surprised by Alfa Romeo’s pace compared to its immediate rivals within the midfield.
“It definitively felt better than, for example, in Silverstone, at the end of the race all the cars around us seemed to have similar pace, so it will be the small things that will make the difference from now on,” he added.
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43. 30.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 13, Belgian Grand Prix, Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, Race Day.
The Belgian GP marked the fourth consecutive weekend Alfa Romeo has failed to achieve a point, marking the longest barren run by any side on the current grid.
Bottas discloses that Alfa Romeo will have another raft of upgrades to arrive after the summer break, but the ex-Mercedes driver admits any improvement will also depend on what new parts other teams bring.
“There is something in the pipeline for after the break, but it also will depend on what the others will bring,” the Finn explained.
“If they can also make steps, then it’s going to be the same-same; if not many teams will bring anything significant, maybe we can be inside the top ten a bit more regularly, hopefully. It’s not only down to us.”
Alfa Romeo’s failure to accumulate more points has often stemmed from a failure to qualify strongly, with Bottas claiming the Hinwil-based squad must strive to execute weekends better to improve its chances.
“This weekend both qualifyings were a bit messy, we didn’t get the timings quite right,” he said.
“For sure the car pace is important but also the execution of the whole weekend needs to be perfect if you want points, nowadays. It’s also the aim to try to smooth things off.”
Following a bruising opening half to the campaign, Bottas states the entire Alfa Romeo camp must understand the reasons for its slump this season in order to come back stronger in the second half of the year.
“I think we need to analyse and reset for after the break, so we come back quite fresh for the second half,” he contended.
“Also, with the upgrade we have for after the break, we’re hoping it’s going to give us a step, so now we just need to reset a little bit.
Keyword: Bottas banking on Alfa Romeo F1 upgrades to inspire 2023 upturn