Valtteri Bottas felt it was a positive opening day at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, with the Finn ending up second fastest in both free practice sessions.
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver ended up just behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton in both the morning and afternoon sessions, and while the Briton had the advantage over the whole lap, Bottas’ first and third sector times were more in favour of the Finn, giving him hope for the rest of the weekend.
Bottas used part of the first session to analyse aero parts aimed for the 2018 season before turning his attention to this weekend’s race, and after the positive vibes of Friday, he is looking forward to the rest of the weekend.
“I think it was a positive day for us,” said Bottas. “Initially in Practice 1 we did some aero tests, looking at some things we can improve for next year. We now have some data to analyse from that.
“Otherwise, I think both the short runs and the long runs in both sessions looked positive for us as a team, so we have a good starting point for the weekend.
“Still, we were a little bit struggling to get the set-up right for each corner of the circuit. However, I was really enjoying this track and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
