'We Need New Car' Bottas Concludes After Last Race Of 2023 Season

Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 22:00

Valtteri Bottas called for improvement in the Alfa Romeo car following another unsuccessful race at Yas Marina Circuit.

The end of the season has not been good at all for the Alfa Romeo team. After scoring double points in Qatar, neither Valtteri Bottas nor his teammate Zhou Guanyu could score a single point in the remaining five races.

The last three races have been especially tough for the team as both drivers DNFed in Sao Paulo and finished at the complete back of the grid during the Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Bottas started the season's final race at Yas Marina Circuit from 18th place on the grid and crossed the line in 19th, showing the lack of pace in his car. The Finn commented on his strategy after the race:

"Ultimately, the one-stop didn't work for us, we just couldn't keep the tires in shape, especially with the Medium at the end, which started graining."

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While Alfa Romeo couldn't pull off the one-stop, their Championship rival AlphaTauri, with Yuki Tsunoda, completed the race with one stop and scored eighth place. Bottas added:

"That is why the pace is pretty was pretty slow. Overall, even when the tires were okay, the pace wasn't quite there."

Admitting the pace wasn't quite there, Bottas also called for a change as he said Alfa Romeo needs a new car moving forward.

"The main thing is that we need a new car. It needs to be different and that is the biggest takeaway from this year."

Alfa Romeo has been ahead of AlphaTauri for the majority of the 2023 season, but unlike the team from Faenza, Alfa Romeo failed to bring effective upgrades and lost out at the end. The 34-year-old concluded:

"We've clearly hit the end with this car and with the development, have been unable to find anything big. The whole concept needs to be different, so that is what we've learned."