Bottas cautious of Red Bull threat despite table-topping pace
Bottas cautious of Red Bull threat despite table-topping pace
Valtteri Bottas fears Red Bull still has pace in hand over Mercedes despite the Finn topping both Friday practice sessions at Imola.
Bottas set the early pace at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, pipping team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.010secs to set the fastest time of the opening day with an effort of one minute 15.551s.
A thorn in the side of Mercedes' dominance is the unknown pace of Max Verstappen and Red Bull after a driveshaft issue forced the Dutchman to retire from FP2 after only five laps.
“The midfield and the front end looks really close," said Bottas. "We definitely didn’t see the best out of Red Bull yet today.
"We are going to see that tomorrow in Q3 so no doubt they are going to be fast and we still don’t think we are the fastest car. We really need to prove that on Saturday."
After struggling to get on top of his Mercedes in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, Bottas then tried so many simulation set-ups of Imola in order to unlock the pace of the W12 close to that of Hamilton he conceded to losing count.
Asked if the relentless changes were paying off, he replied: “To be honest, starting this weekend if I compare it to Bahrain how the car is feeling it is definitely feeling better so that is nice.
"But it is a different track and a different type of circuit, surface and grip level. But at least the weekend started in a positive way and the car wasn’t far off in terms of the set up.
“There are still things to be tuned but overall the balance, I’m a lot happier with the car now than I was three weeks ago.
“It feels better. It is still the same type of issues but less so. It is still not perfect but we are still only on event two out of 23 this season.
"Hopefully, we will have enough time to fix it, but at least we can feel we have made steps forward so that is good.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- 22 minutes ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- 1 hour ago
F1 pundit reveals the thing about Wolff that ANNOYS Horner
- 2 hours ago
Newey exit DATE revealed as Red Bull F1 chief set to leave
- 2 hours ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 legend reveals flood of death threats
- Today 06:27
Audi agree STAR driver contract as Mercedes driver tipped for new F1 seat THIS season - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
Related news
Mercedes star tipped to replace struggling driver THIS season
Hamilton car camera captures Verstappen's TRUE feelings toward F1 rival
Marko reveals Vettel requirements for stunning F1 comeback
Fierce Hamilton F1 rival raises timing issue for Ferrari move
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860