Bottas demands Alfa Romeo 'step' in points pursuit

Valtteri Bottas has demanded Alfa Romeo find 'a step' after footing the Friday practice timesheets in Saudi Arabia.

The Finn scored points at the F1 season opening with an eighth-place finish but adding to this early total appeared unlikely following the opening exchanges.

"We tried different things with the wing levels and the setups," said Bottas.

"It seems like we were lacking a bit of pace to where we expected to be but the main days are ahead."

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the second-longest on the F1 calendar but the margins between drivers were extremely fine, with just 1.449s separating Bottas from pace-setter Max Verstappen.

"It seems pretty close, like we saw in Bahrain, so it's hard to say in detail (how we rank)," added Bottas.

"But overall, we definitely need to find a bit of a step. Based on what we saw we were capable of in Bahrain, we will be working hard."

Asked if the desired tweaks could put him in contention for points on Sunday, Bottas assessed: "I see no reason why not.

"I'm sure we can get to the points but, for that, we definitely need to find a bit of pace for quali and the race.

"But, as I said, it's going to be extremely close."

READ MORE: Leclerc cools Ferrari Saudi Arabian GP engine concerns

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