Monaco GP: 'Traffic paradise' part of the game

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has labelled Monaco as a "traffic paradise" after a number of near misses during practice.

F1 has returned to the principality with the biggest cars in history but with only minor tweaks to the circuit over time.

This has led to a number of issues with traffic during practice and qualifying sessions in recent years but on Friday's opening day, impeding was more of an issue than had previously been the case.

Fernando Alonso in particular was becoming frustrated with the sheer number of occasions in which he was forced to abort an effort to avoid an incident, though every driver was affected at one point in the running.

Scary moments centred around blind corners such as the medium-high speed Massenet and the exhilarating La Piscine complex.

Running was also halted on three occasions with incidents triggering red flag periods, leading to disruption to run plans.

"It was a small traffic paradise - it is a part of Monaco," Bottas told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"It is quite usual to have red flags disturbing run plans but nothing major, we got most of it done."

Positive feeling

Alfa Romeo has struggled in the opening stages of the season, with only six points amassed between Bottas and teammate Zhou Guanyu in stark contrast to a flying start last term.

But Bottas finished Friday's running eighth-quickest and only six-tenths slower than Max Verstappen's best effort to spark optimism for the Hinwil-based outfit ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

"It was a positive feeling overall so if we can find a bit more, we will be there or thereabouts," he confirmed.