Bottas explains theory behind Hamilton deficit in Singapore
There was 1.1 seconds between them.
Valtteri Bottas said all was not right with his Mercedes car after a crash in first practice at the Singapore Grand Prix, perhaps explaining his sizable deficit to Lewis Hamilton on Friday.
Bottas ended the sessions 1.1 seconds down on his team-mate, who ended Friday as the fastest man on-track.
The Finn lost control of his car at Turn 18 during FP1, which ended his session early and gave Mercedes' mechanics a significant rebuild job.
And Bottas explained that once he was back in the car it did not feel as comfortable as it had previously.
"It was a tricky one. I had a bit of an off moment in FP1, which ended my running a bit early, but everything was feeling okay until then.
"I just lost the back end in one of the corners, and obviously here with no run-offs you pay the price.
"FP2, not sure really what was going on. I was lacking pace, every single run, every tyre compound, so I'm not quite sure if everything was right in the car, we need to have a look.
"It just felt like I couldn't go any quicker, but I was one second off the pace.
"The only thing I could really feel, I just felt quite a bit of friction in the steering system. So, I struggled to feel the car properly.
"I doubt everything was 100 percent, but obviously need to have a look [at] what I can do better as well."
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