Valtteri Bottas believes his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport team still have work to do after finishing behind Scuderia Ferrari in Friday’s second practice session ahead of this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Finnish driver finished second in first practice but slipped to third in the later second practice session behind both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. The transition from day to night saw the track get quicker throughout both sessions, something Bottas noted.
“This weekend is difficult because the track improves so much from one session to another,” said Bottas. “We could already see it today, you feel more grip with every single lap and the car balance is changing so we always had to make estimates for the next session and the next runs. It will be the same for tomorrow.”
Bottas only used the soft Pirelli compound during first practice before trying out the supersoft in the later session when conditions were more representative of what is expected during Saturday’s Qualifying session and Sunday’s race.
“Our main goal today was to get the softer compounds to work,” admitted the Finn. “On the SuperSoft we did pretty much the same time as on the Soft, so getting the most out of that compound is the key thing for tomorrow.
“The car feels okay, but we still need to find some pace, especially for a single lap. So we still have some work to do.”
