The Swiss team has been bringing new parts to the track on a regular basis at recent races, but the Silverstone update is seen as particularly valuable as it is aimed at improving the performance of the C43 in fast corners, an area where the car has been lacking.
Bottas says that previous upgrades have already had a positive impact, but that has to some degree been disguised by disappointing qualifying sessions in tricky wet conditions in both Spain and Canada.
“I think performance-wise we just haven't had normal conditions for a while,” he said. “We had rain in Barcelona, rain in Montreal, so there's more variability. So with these new upgrades, we haven't really seen how the quali performance is in a normal condition.”
Regarding the last event in Canada, he said: “All the way until qualifying the performance was quite OK, every session I was in top 10. So I think it's encouraging.
“We obviously still have the same car here. But then we have another upgrade for Silverstone. So yeah, I'm really hoping for a dry weekend here to see where we are and get standard conditions and so on. I think at least it's looking a bit more promising now than for example before Monaco.”
Bottas said the strength of the C43 is an underlying good balance that allows the team to start weekends on a strong footing, which will be helpful at sprint events like Austria, where teams only have FP1 in which to sort their cars.
“The biggest asset I would say is how it behaves,” he said. “The balance overall is quite nice, that way in the race it's actually quite good for the tyres.
“And also recently it feels like we've been able to predict setups pretty well, so we've only had to do minor changes in the race weekend, so hopefully that helps us this weekend if we get it right again.
“And weaknesses, still obviously high-speed corners are not our strength, definitely. And the upgrade we have for Silverstone is actually improving the high-speed performance without any losses.”
Bottas, who moved up from 15th to 10th in the Canadian GP, stressed that the team needs to work on its one-lap performance.
"We need better qualifyings,” he said. “I think that's been in the recent events the weakness, just not getting things right. I think ultimately, the performance has been better than what the quali results have shown.
“So we just need to get clean sessions and do the right calls and so on. So I think that will already help us a lot in the race.
“I thought that from where I started [in Canada], it was actually a good result. But then we can only imagine that if I started, let's say top nine or something, what could have been. We could have possibly got a few more extra points. So now it's getting the quali right.”
Bottas expects to see drivers pushing harder in Austria this weekend in the second event under the new sprint format rules, with the street layout having reined things in at the first example in Baku.
When asked if drivers will take more risks now that the sprint is a standalone event, Bottas said: “Definitely compared to last year. Now it's separate thing and it's only the top eight that score, so especially like where we are now, full gas or nothing. Definitely people are more willing to risk if they are not in the points.
“If I'm in ninth place before the last lap for sure if there's a chance to try and overtake you don't think twice, because what's the worst case? Might lose the front wing, and that's it.”
