Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas has said that he could feel a tangible difference between the 2017 spec and proposed 2018 spec Pirelli tyre compounds as post-season testing comes to an end.
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver recorded the second fastest time of the day over the course of 141 laps; only Charles Leclerc of the Sauber F1 Team covered a greater distance.
Bottas found himself just under a second outside of Sebastian Vettel’s time by the day’s end, with both having run the hyper-soft compound.
“It was a really interesting day, trying out the new Pirellis and discovering the differences between this year’s and next year’s tyres.” mused Bottas.
“I could really feel the differences and it was nice to get the feel now rather than next year. We tested all kinds of compounds and learned a lot out of all of them.”
“I myself learned a great deal about the driving style with these new tyres. Now I’m looking forward to get some holidays.”
Bottas finished his debut season with Mercedes in third place in the Drivers’ Championship with three wins in Russia, Austria and Abu Dhabi, 58 points behind champion and team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but just 12 shy of second placed man Vettel.
