Bottas urges Alfa Romeo to make 'rapid improvement'

Valtteri Bottas feels there's now a sense of urgency at Alfa Romeo, and the Finn is encouraging his team to turn around its fortunes quickly.

Four races into its 2023 campaign, Alfa only has two top-ten finishes to its name courtesy of Bottas' eighth-place finish in the opening round in Bahrain and to Zhou Guanyu's P9 in Melbourne.

The Swiss outfit's performance and results are falling well short of its expectations. In Baku, Bottas finished dead last, the Finn nursing to the checkered his C43 damaged on the opening in a contact with McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

On the other side of the Alfa garage, Zhou was on course for a P14 classification when the Chinese driver was ordered to retire his car after 36 laps due to rising temperatures.

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"Baku was definitely not our weekend, but we have taken some lessons from it and we have moved on to a new race week," Bottas commented ahead of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix.

"I am glad to be back in Miami, I have good memories from last year's inaugural race and the welcome we received here in Florida.

"We need to make a rapid improvement in terms of performance, maximising the different track we'll have this week.

"We are as motivated as ever: it may seem tough right now, but there are still many races ahead, and we are all keen on doing the very best.

"I am looking forward to being back behind the wheel this weekend, feeling confident and ready for a new challenge."

Alfa team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi acknowledged the Hinwil squad's disappointing performance year-to-date, but the Italian encouraged his team to remain calm and keep its head down.

"There is no denying we are not where we expected to be at the start of the season, and right now, performance-wise, fighting for the top 10 is tough," admitted a candid Alunni Bravi

"Nevertheless, we must remain calm and not lose our focus on what we need to do: the season is still long, and we have the opportunity to turn the tide.

"We saw in Baku how the field is still very much competitive, and small margins can make a real difference.

"We are working hard on improvements, both back at base in Switzerland and at the track, and we are committed to achieve this together as a team."

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