Alfa Romeo Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi believes the side’s poor result at the British Grand Prix masked the performance improvements it has made.
After Zhou Guanyu expressed concern over the squad being out-developed by its rivals, Alfa Romeo introduced updates intended to improve its car in high-speed corners.
While Zhou failed to progress beyond Q1, Bottas did advance to Q2 but was unable to participate in the second session after stopping on track and was disqualified for failing to provide the required fuel sample.
Although both drivers gained places in the race – Bottas rising from the back to 12th – another scoreless weekend saw Alfa Romeo drop a place in the standings to Williams, who picked up four points with Alex Albon.
However, Alunni Brav is convinced the Italian marque’s qualifying struggles at Silverstone meant the race classification didn’t reflect the step forward it made with its C43 package.
“Today, we must pay tribute to our team and drivers for the job done, in a race that wasn’t set to be easy for us: overall, we have recovered ten positions, eight with Valtteri and two with Zhou, as proof that if we carry out a perfect race, we can get into the fight for points,” he said.
“Yesterday was not our day, and of course, starting from the back is never easy, but today we showed an improvement in the race pace compared to previous events, which gives us confidence for the next two races before the summer break.
“There, our target will be to further optimise our new package, in order to be competitive from Friday onwards and recover positions in the Constructors’ Championship.
“We come back from Silverstone aware that a step has been made in terms of performance through the upgrades we have brought, although the final positions haven’t reflected it.
“What we have learned from this weekend is that each and every one of us needs to execute every race to the very best and that there is no room for mistakes. Moving forward, this will be our focus, in order to consistently remain in the fight for points.”
Zhou Guanyu (CHN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43 makes a pit stop. 09.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 11, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Race Day
Meanwhile, Bottas echoed Alunni Brav’s comments but suggests that Alfa Romeo’s latest updates were dwarfed by the huge advances other teams made at Silverstone.
McLaren’s resurgence continued on home soil as both cars took the chequered flag inside the top four, with Lando Norris collecting a podium for the British squad.
“The upgrades we brought here this weekend allowed us to make a slight step forward, but of course, there is still some work to do: other teams brought new parts as well, and their improvement has been evident,” Bottas added.
“Over the few weeks before Budapest, all of our focus will go into unlocking their full potential, in order to come back in competitive form for the final two races before the summer break.”
Alfa Romeo occupy ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, two points behind both Haas and Williams in a tight battle for seventh position.
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