Valtteri Bottas took over the W08 from Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the afternoon session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Thursday, and felt it was an interesting day.
The Finn added 95 laps to his tally after Hamilton had ran 52 laps during the morning session, with Bottas comparing tyre compounds during long run testing whilst also learning more about the W08 package.
Bottas feels it will be tight competition when the Formula 1 season starts in earnest in two weeks time in Australia, and is hopeful of a productive final day of testing on Friday.
“It was another strong day for me and the team,” revealed Bottas. “I did some good mileage – 95 laps – and some very interesting long run testing this afternoon on the different tyre compounds, as well as set-up work and evaluation of all the parts we’ve got for the car.
“We’re still finding out which of these parts are the best suited to our car and how exactly we can draw 100 per cent out of the package. Every day is still a massive learning curve for us and we’ve still got a lot of work to do to get it right.
“It’s going to be a tight competition in Melbourne so we need to make the most of our last day of testing tomorrow and maximise our mileage.”
