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In its former guise as Alfa Romeo last season, Bottas and the F1 team suffered a disappointing campaign, finishing ninth in the constructors’ championship with just 16 points.
It was quickly discovered the team had embarked down a cul-de-sac regarding its development path, and was unable to enhance the overall performance of the C43 during the campaign.
Following the arrival of James Key as technical director on September 1, Speedcafe revealed in November that this year’s car would be “completely new” as the team looked to change its fortunes.
“Where we are as a team, it was probably a good thing to get some different points of view from different people, and James has been great,” said Bottas, in an interview with Speedcafe.
“He has already found different paths and different ways to go with the new car, and our team has some reasonably good people from other teams, bigger teams, working in the aero department, so we’re just getting people who can think a bit outside the box.”
Aside from the arrival of Key, the team has quietly gone about its business in attracting new hires since Andreas Seidl took over as CEO of the Sauber Group a year ago.
Bottas has no doubt the changes were crucial in steering the team on a new path.
“Some people have left, some have arrived,” said Bottas. “People have moved to different positions, even the engineering team. We did some restructuring within the team that not many people probably know about.
“That was needed. We had to change things up, and change is good. That’s what we needed. So that’s why I do have hopes for the year.”
As to what Bottas wants to see from this year’s car, he concedes to being not a particularly fussy driver.
The Finn believes himself to be “pretty neutral” regarding his driving style, perhaps “a tiny bit oversteery”.
He added: “I want to have the control of the car where I want to, and with a bit of understeer it’s quite often tricky, so I’m definitely a bit more pointy in terms of the car behavior.”
Bottas feels that the overall efficiency of the new car will be crucial.
“In terms of setup, and setting it up, it (last year’s car) was quite good,” he said.
“We didn’t have big issues getting the handling right, and sometimes the ride almost felt like it was too good. I would ask if we could go stiffer and lower, so that wasn’t really an issue with the car. The handling and balance were to my liking.
“It was more about the pure performance that we were lacking. For us, many times (last year) to match the straight-line speeds of the others, we had to run a lower wing.
“That then means you have less downforce, so it was lacking a bit of efficiency.”
Bottas insists he would take a car with greater downforce even if it meant it was “more tricky” to handle.
“In the end, with today’s cars, that’s the way to go,” he said. “You need to maximise the load. Whether it has an impact on the ride or handling, it’s still going to be faster.”
Naturally stating this year’s car “will be quite different”, he appreciates there will be “an unknown as to how the handling is going to be”.
But he said: “I’ll always take the load and try and deal with it. It’s interesting times, always when you’re working with a new car, and new concepts, so lots of hopes for the new season.”
