Valtteri Bottas says Alfa Romeo are bringing more upgrades at the 2023 United States Grand Prix, following ‘much needed’ points at the Qatar GP.
The team finished 8th and 9th at the Losail International Circuit to finish in the points for only the second race since the Austrian GP back in July.
The result came following an upgrade package delivered changes to endplates, the beam-wing and the diffuser, as the Swiss team bids to improve their aero efficiency by reducing drag.
The US GP offers another chance for Alfa Romeo to gain points and they will bring more updates in a bid to close up what the Finnish driver described as ‘small gaps’ in the Formula 1 field, although he’s aware of the challenge ahead.
“It is so hard to predict because of the gaps are so small,” Bottas said to media. “But at least now I think we’ve learned a lot more about the upgrades we introduced, and we even have some new bits for for this race. So we’ll find out very soon.”
Points boosted confidence
The points scored in the Middle East allowed Alfa Romeo to leapfrog Haas F1 and close up to Williams, with the team now just seven points behind their British rivals.
Prize money is crucial for the low budget teams, with points also being hard to come-by for the teams at the back of the grid and Bottas said that the team felt the rewards of their double-points finish.
“Much needed [points], it really felt refreshing for everyone in the team,” Bottas added. “When you’re doing so many races and without any points, for sure, it starts to eat everybody’s confidence a little bit.
“You start to wonder, ‘Can you do it?’, and now we proved to everyone in the team, ‘Yes, we can do it, if we get everything right, we can score’, so there’s definitely a bit of a better vibe overall now, and I hope that can carry for a bit better end of the season.”
