Valtteri Bottas feels Alfa Romeo’s 2023 F1 challenger is ‘way, way better’ than last year’s car

Alfa Romeo F1 driver Valtteri Bottas revealed that they are in a 'way, way better' position in terms of performance compared to last season after the end of the pre-season test in Bahrain.

The Swiss-based team finished in P6 in the constructor's championship at the end of the 2022 season. Although the team did suffer some issues on the reliability front, Bottas stated that they were really happy with the gains they made in the winter heading into the opening race of the season next week in Bahrain.

Speaking to PlanetF1, Valtteri Bottas said:

“[We had] some issues, but it’s part of testing, and way less than last year. The feeling with the car is quite positive. But, as always in testing, it’s impossible to read where you are exactly. But it seems like we’re more or less on target."

He added:

“We had an issue, I stopped on the track. Something to do with the power unit, so they’re still investigating. It caused a little bit of a delay, but we still got plenty of laps. We’re way, way better than last year at this point. I think we are well prepared – as well as you can with three days in the season.”

"The car feels better than last year" - Valtteri Bottas

At the end of the 2022 pre-season, Alfa Romeo encountered many issues and had limited running with their new car, but they were quite competitive with their performance in the first half of the season.

However, Valtteri Bottas claimed that the team was in a much better position this year. He said:

“It’s hard to say based on today and the last two days but is better than last year as a team. For me as well, being in a better position than last year, I think it’s realistic. I feel like we’ve stepped up as a team in terms of the quality of the car and we’ve had fewer issues by this point. The car feels better than last year.”

Valtteri Bottas added:

“I don’t know how much fuel others have, and so on. At least, it seems like we’re not at the back of the grid. So that’s good to see and the main thing is the feeling with the car – I definitely feel the improvements we’ve been trying to do for this year and the stability of the car is much better,"

It would be interesting to see if the team can move up in the standings this season and fight for more regular points every race weekend in 2023.