Bottas demands radical shake-up after Alfa Romeo's final Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas is seeking a completely new Formula 1 car for Sauber in 2024 after a poor final season for Alfa Romeo.

The naming deal for the Italian car manufacturer in Grand Prix racing expired with the squad returning to the Sauber name for the first time since 2018, but had little to show for a poor final season.

Bottas and team-mate Zhou Guanyu could only score 16 points between them as it recorded a ninth-place finish in the championship, with 15th in the Drivers' and just 10 points for Bottas.

It is his worst finish since 17th and four points in his rookie 2013 season with Williams, and the Finn expects some major changes for next season.

Bottas's expectation

"The main thing is that we need a new car," Bottas explained to media including RacingNews365.

"It needs to be different and that is the biggest takeaway from this year.

"We've clearly hit the end with this car and with the development, have been unable to find anything big.

"The whole concept needs to be different, so that is what we've learned."

As for his race at Yas Marina, Bottas started 18th and finished 19th, one lap down, in a low-key end to his season, having opted for a counter-strategy of "trying something different."

"The reverse strategy, from where I started made sense, but it was quite uneventful with obviously no Safety Cars," he said.

"Ultimately, the one-stop didn't work for us, we just couldn't keep the tyres in shape, especially with the Medium at the end which started graining.

"That is why the pace is pretty was pretty slow. Overall, even when the tyres were okay, the pace wasn't quite there."