Valtteri Bottas urges Alfa Romeo to end reliability strife

Valtteri Bottas has claimed it is "crucial" that Alfa Romeo achieves a "trouble-free weekend" after a string of reliability issues this year.

The Finn has suffered numerous problems during Friday practice sessions this year with an MGU-K failure in Monaco the latest disruption.

In Bahrain, Imola and Barcelona, reliability problems limited Bottas' running although the 32-year-old took responsibility for a crash that cost running in Miami.

“Baku is a place with both good and bad memories for me, so I definitely hope to add some more of the pleasant kind this weekend," said Bottas.

"It’s crucial we can have a trouble-free weekend.

"We have been having some good results despite some Friday issues so far, and if we were to fix these, we could really see the full potential of our package.

"We know we can fight towards the front when we do it and it has to be the aim here as well."

Even with his Friday problems, Bottas is eighth in the drivers' standings and trails his former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 10 points.

Bottas keen to benefit from Baku chaos

Azerbaijan has often provided a surprise result but equally surprising is the fact that no driver has won the event twice.

Run first as the European Grand Prix in 2016 before switching to its current title, Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Bottas have all topped the podium in Baku.

Bottas added: "This is a track that can produce some chaotic races so we will need to be ready to make the most of any opportunity.

"It could be a lot of fun on Sunday."

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