Bottas on Austria crash: That's how it should be!

Valtteri Bottas said his huge crash in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix was deserved punishment for his mistake, backing more tracks to be as savage as the Red Bull Ring.

Carbon fibre littered the circuit at many different points of Friday's two sessions, with the 'sausage' kerbs doing damage to front wings, while FP2 was punctuated by two big crashes: one for Max Verstappen, and Bottas' soon after.

Bottas ploughed front wing-first into the barriers after getting out of shape in Turn 6, and was passed fit after a precautionary medical check, having endured 25G in the incident.

"It makes a difference. I have to say, even though I crashed, I do prefer to be penalised for your mistakes," Bottas said.

"It makes it a little bit more exciting. That's how it should be, and the tiniest error will cost a lot here with aggressive kerbs and run-offs and everything. I think that's the way to go."

It was a fretful day for Bottas, who missed the opening half-hour of FP1 after an oil leak was found on his car, meaning he had to be fitted with his spec-1 engine.

The team fixed the issue and returned the spec-2 unit for FP2, but it sill put the Finn on the back foot.

"Before the shunt, I had an issue with the engine this morning which meant we swapped to the old one for FP1.

"That compromised me a little bit but we found a clear direction on car set-up.

"We made some pretty big changes for FP2 and it felt a lot better until the accident. So overall, a good feeling on the car performance but other teams are quick as well."

Related

GPFans Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: F1 star reveals MAJOR team ‘solution’ in fuel change debate

• July 10, 2024 18:13

Latest F1 News

F1 team in talks over SURPRISE driver return in 2025

• July 8, 2024 09:13