Currently ninth in the team standings, Alfa Romeo is planning much-needed upgrades for the races in Italy and Japan, according to Alessandro Alunni Bravi.

Having finished sixth last year, on level points with Aston Martin, it's been back to earth with a resounding bump this year as the team has struggled and in the process dropped to ninth.

However, at a time McLaren has proved the worth of upgrades, the Italian (Swiss?) outfit hasn't given up and will be introducing its own upgrades in the coming races.

"We cannot compare this season with last season," Alessandro Alunni Bravi tells Speedcafe. "Last season, we reached P6, which was the best result in a decade for our team.

"But we also did, in the second part of the season," he adds, "we did a step back, and so we started from that point.

"The fight is really, you know, the pack is really tight," he continues, "Aston Martin did a big step, now Aston Martin is fighting for the top three positions in the constructors' championship. We expect that the competition will be higher each season. In Formula 1, each year, we raise the bar in terms of technology, in terms of investment. This is a continuous battle.

"We have a plan already," he reveals. "We expect the next big upgrade around Monza, and then of course another important upgrade around Suzuka. So we have our plan.

"What is important is that we have seen that we need the big upgrades, it's not enough to have one-tenth. Of course, where you need to recover, you need to be able to produce upgrades that allow you to do a significant step.

"It's not micro, little developments, it's not marginal gains for us. For us, it's a matter of each time we introduce an update, it must give us between two and three-tenths. This is a challenge because if it will be an easy task everybody will do it."

However, according to Valtteri Bottas it isn't just about upgrades, the Finn feeling the team needs to get its act together in terms of organisation.

"In both of the qualifyings, it was just a bit messy overall," he said of the Spa weekend. "Timings, we didn't get it quite right, etcetera.

"For sure the car pace is important," he admits, "but also operationally, you need to be perfect if you want points nowadays. So that's also the aim, to try and smooth things up.

"There is something in the pipeline after the break," he says of the upgrades, "but it depends so much on the other teams. If they make steps, then is going to be the same. But if not many teams can bring anything significant, then we can hopefully be a bit more regularly in the top ten. So it's not only down to us."