Valtteri Bottas says he is not worried that the hot weather forecast for the French Grand Prix weekend will increase the risk of reliability problems for Alfa Romeo.
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Both Bottas and team-mate Zhou Guanyu have suffered five mechanically related retirements so far in the 2022 season. Bottas has also lost track time this year because of technical problems during practice sessions.
With ambient temperatures expected to reach the mid-30s in the south of France this weekend, RaceFans asked Bottas whether the heat might increase the likelihood of further reliability issues for Alfa Romeo. He said the team has not seen evidence to suggest the hot conditions will cause more failures.
“We haven’t seen anything that relates to the heat,” Bottas said. “We’ve had cooling issues, but that’s normally been a leak in the cooling system – so it would be a problem whether it’s cold or hot.
“So we haven’t seen any proof that the heat would actually be a big concern. We feel like we have margin in the cooling and those issues, for now, feel like they’re sorted.”
Over the last eight grands prix, Ferrari and its customer teams Alfa Romeo (run by Sauber) and Haas have recorded 10 retirements caused by power unit or mechanical failures — a higher total than teams powered by Mercedes, Renault or Red Bull.
“We’ve been working very closely with Ferrari, because some issues haven’t been related to Sauber alone,” Bottas added. “There have been problems originating at Ferrari as well. So it’s been both sides, really.”
Bottas said he is confident the team is making progress on reliability after prioritising it in their development programme this season.
“We’re making progress, for sure,” he said. “I think we’re on top of many things, much better than we were at the beginning of the season.
“We don’t yet have 100% confidence, because we have had so many issues, but for a long time the number one priority in post-race meetings has been reliability — identifying problems and addressing them before they happen. We’re doing everything we can with the resources we have.”
Bottas will not take part in first practice tomorrow; the team’s reserve driver Robert Kubica is scheduled to drive his car for that session.
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