Reliability, Alfa Romeo's number one priority according to Bottas

At Alfa Romeo, if the performance is there, the reliability is still lacking. During the last Grand Prix, in Austria, Guanyu-Zhou suffered a power outage during the installation lap of the Sprint race. Valtteri Bottas had to deal with an engine problem throughout the race. The Finn, who admitted not yet having “100% confidence” in the corrections made by his team, however seemed optimistic about the work carried out in Hinwil.

“We are making progress, that’s for sure. I think we are controlling a lot more things much better than at the start of the season”, said the Alfa Romeo driver on Thursday, ahead of the French Grand Prix. “We still don't have 100% confidence because we've had so many problems. This has long been the number one priority in post-race debriefing: reliability and identifying problems before they happen. »

Since the start of the season, each weekend has had its share of problems for the Italian-Swiss team. Despite a high-performance car on all tracks, the hazardous reliability of the C42 has already cost big points in the championship. Valtteri Bottas believes that not all the problems lie with Alfa Romeo. “We are doing everything we can with the resources available. Also, we work very closely with Ferrari, because also there have been problems that are not linked to Sauber as such. There were problems related to the power unit. »

A new clutch for Alfa Romeo at Le Castellet

Another weakness on the C42 since the start of the season: the clutch. Both drivers had many difficulties during the race starts. In France, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari will provide a new solution on the car. “We have a new clutch here, which we will try for the first time during testing. This is something Ferrari has been working on for a while, explained Valtteri Bottas. We tend to lose positions on average initially. It's not great because the middle of the grid is so tight that once you fall behind someone and you're stuck for 20 laps, it doesn't make your life any easier. »

The Finnish driver also went into more detail about the causes of the problem with the clutch on the Alfa Romeos. “The main weakness was on the oscillation. On low grip tracks you have to slip the clutch more and there is more oscillation. There is also a lack of consistency in how it bites and how you get the start. On circuits with more grip, this is less of a problem. » The ex-pilot Mercedes admitted that there had also been a long period of adaptation with different parts at Sauber. “The shape of the clutch paddle was quite different from what I was used to, so we had to work on that a bit. »

Under the heat of the South of France, the Alfa Romeo C42 will be put to the test. The Italian-Swiss team is hoping for a good result after the zero points in Austria and before the arrival of major developments in Hungary.

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