Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps | |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:43.118 | 71 |
Valterri Bottas:
“I really enjoyed my first time driving the car on a proper track today. It didn't take too long to get used to the car but there were still a few new things for me. There is much more downforce and power than the cars I am used to driving, but I really liked it and I think the day went well.
“It is physically very demanding, but I've been doing a lot of training for this and although it is hard in these hot conditions, I could still focus 100% on the driving side. I was able to help the team make some progress with some interesting tests for next year. I'm definitely looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow as I have more to learn and I know I can do better.”
Tom McCullough (Race Engineer):
“Valtteri had his first day properly driving the car after previously doing straightline testing with the team. He got straight into it and did a really good job, enabling us to get through quite a long test programme and get all the data we needed.
“It was a really good job from his side with the consistency and good technical feedback. We lost a bit of time over lunch with a gearbox issue which the team are currently investigating, but overall it was a very productive day evaluating parts for next year's car.”
Bottas is back in the car tomorrow