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Bottas makes Alfa Romeo demand amid slump

The team has only scored points on four occasions so far this year as it considers whether to switch focus to next season.

Valtteri Bottas has called on Alfa Romeo to bring further updates to its car as it risks dropping further down the order after the summer break. The Finn has not scored since the Canadian Grand Prix, with his only other points finish being at the season opener in Bahrain, whilst teammate Zhou Guanyu has also scored just twice - picking up points in Australia and Spain. While the team brought updates at Silverstone to their floor, diffuser and rear suspension, Alfa Romeo has struggled to replicate other teams in making a big step to achieve more points finishes. Addressing the latest package when speaking to media, including RacingNews365.com , Bottas said: "We made a step but also other teams have made steps, that's the name of the game. So we need to find a bit more. "We don't have anything coming in the next two events until after the summer break. The guys and girls really need to work hard in the factory to bring some new bits."

Focus decision

Teams are approaching the point in the season where a decision needs to be made over when to switch full focus to next year's challenger and make a step compared to rivals that way, rather than developing throughout the rest of the current campaign. "We're approaching halfway through the season and we've not been able to really move up the order," Bottas explained. "At some point, we need to decide when to focus for next year and I'm sure those discussions are gonna be made soon. "We were expecting it [the car] to be better than last year, but just didn't find enough during the winter and the beginning of the season so far. "We're not meeting targets we set ourselves, now we just need to work hard."

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