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Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas reckons his team's new C43 car is more of an 'all-rounder' than its predecessor.
The team made an impressive leap last season to midfield, finishing the season sixth in the championship. However, there were issues that thwarted the kind of progress Alfa Romeo seemed destined to have.
The first was the lack of consistency of the package. It worked brilliantly on some tracks but was a complete disaster on others. To exacerbate matters, reliability issues compromised both Valterri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.
Talking to Motorsport-Total, Bottas said that things look positive from the numbers in the simulator, including the reliability of the Ferrari power unit:
"I have the feeling that this car, at least based on the numbers in the simulator, is more of an all-rounder than just fast on the slow tracks. What we have heard from the power unit side looks positive at first. But these are just some numbers at this point."
Bottas spent his winter in Australia and New Zealand and enjoyed the sun. Contrary to drivers like Lewis Hamilton who spent the winter break in Antarctica, Bottas feels the Australian continent is a perfect place for a break:
"Australia and New Zealand are a good place for a break because nobody can reach you. Being in a completely different time zone is good. I've seen a lot and experienced a lot, and at the same time, it was good training."
He added:
"The biggest difference was that I was gone on December 1, which I've never had before. And I didn't actually have days off before, even when I did have days off. It was just a longer break than usual, but I have to make the best of it because now it's starting again. It's the same as every year, you get more and more excited before you're allowed to drive the new car."
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has high hopes for the season
The Alfa Romeo driver, although cognizant of the opposition's ability to innovate, is confident of how his team would fare this season. He said:
"Obviously I'm always kept up to date on how things are going and what's new, and I'm very involved. And I can't wait to try it out how it feels. Of course, we've tried it in the simulator, but I mean trying it in real life. We all have high hopes for the season, but you never know how innovative other teams are."
It will be interesting to see the kind of progress made by Alfa Romeo this season as they battle in midfield.
