Valtteri Bottas says Alfa Romeo’s stuttering start to the 2023 Formula 1 season has not been a consequence of a correlation problem between its factory and the racetrack.
Having been classified eighth at the season-opening round in Bahrain, Bottas has not threatened the points since and has been the last classified runner in the past two races.
While team-mate Zhou Guanyu navigated his way into the top 10 in Australia, the Chinese racer’s ninth place came about due to late carnage in the race that resulted in only 11 cars reaching the end.
Saturday in Melbourne, however, witnessed both Alfa Romeo drivers be knocked out during the first segment of qualifying.
Alfa Romeo’s sluggish start marks a complete contrast to this time last year when the Italian marque racked up a total of 25 points in the first three races but does represent a continuation of its struggles from the backend of last season.
Bottas has attributed the Hinwil side’s slump to a multitude of problems and believes the month-long break ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix came at the right time.
“Three very different type of grands prix, some of them we had some issues,” he discussed. “Good thing is that there’s still 20 races to go, which is a lot.
“And actually, we welcomed this mini break, let’s say, to try and understand, figure out how can we, you know, find those, those gains that we’re looking for.
“But it’s so competitive at the moment, like if you’re a bit off the pace with the car whatsoever, it’s many, many places. And it’s a tight mix.
“But again, very different track. You need a really efficient car here, aero-wise. See where we are but yeah, we’ve been working a lot and done lots of work in the sim as well, since the last race and definitely understood a few things,” he added.
Alfa Romeo introduced a new nose and front wing update in Australia that failed to inspire an immediate surge in performance at the Albert Park Circuit.
But Bottas has denied that there is a correlation issue hampering the team’s advances and suggests that Alfa Romeo is ready to introduce additional parts to its C43 car in the coming rounds.
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s good. It’s good,” he responded when asked whether the Melbourne updates produced the results that the engineers had been expecting.
“And the simulation tools, they are always improving but already on a good level. So yeah, we have some things in the pipeline, which I hope it will help us with.”
F1 arrives in Baku for the fourth round of the 2023 season and the first running of the sprint format for the year – but with an added twist compared to the past.
While the previous two years have seen Saturday’s sprint race set the starting grid for Sunday’s main event, a revised format has introduced a second qualifying session – titled ‘Sprint Shootout’ – to establish the order for the sprint race without impacting Sunday’s proceedings in any way.
Doubts have emerged surrounding the possibility of teams electing to withdraw from the running if points are off the table in the sprint, but Bottas argues it’s not in a racing drivers’ mindset to want to give up.
“I think it’s like, for example, if I would be on the last laps in ninth position, which is just outside of the points in the sprint, then definitely you go for it,” he said.
“Obviously, if you break your car or something, then that could have consequences for Sunday. But then on another case, there’s not a huge difference, but I think a welcome one. So at least you know that you can try and if you’re just on the edge of the points.
“And to your question, you’re like 15th or something, you still go for it, it’s the nature of us. You don’t give up and in this sport you never know what happens, so you go ‘till the end.
With the walls of Baku being close and unforgiving, the intervention of the Safety Car is more likely here than at other venues, and the Finn took advantage of one in the 2017 edition to come from a lap down in the early stages to finish a remarkable second.
