Bottas excited by Alfa Romeo upgrades as battle continues

Cal Gaunt
Monday 16 October 2023 14:57

Valtteri Bottas has said that his Alfa Romeo team are gaining a better understanding of its most recent upgrade package and revealed what he considers the 'final piece of the puzzle' following a strong performance in Qatar.

Both Bottas and his team-mate Zhou Guanyu secured points in the race, finishing in eighth and ninth place, with Zhou moving up a spot due to Sergio Perez's penalty.

This achievement earned the team six points, propelling them to eighth place in the constructors' standings, just seven points behind Williams.

Alfa Romeo have introduced several new components in recent races, including a beam wing in Qatar, which Bottas believes serves as the final piece to make the new package function effectively as a whole.

Bottas highlights key upgrades

“I feel like we definitely made some progress now, and finally understand 100% the upgrades,” said Bottas, per Autosport.

“Of course, the next race [US Grand Prix] is quite a different track again, but it seems like we were definitely a bit more competitive this week.”

When he was asked if the beam wing was the 'final piece in the puzzle', he added: “It definitely helps a little bit. But we're still draggy. I think we're probably still the slowest on the straight, so something to work on.”

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