Bottas Happy With ‘Zero Problems’ On Day One

Valtteri Bottas is very happy after his first day behind the wheel of his new ride, the Mercedes W08. Setting a best lap of 1:23.169s before handing over to his team mate for the afternoon session.

The Finnish driver completed 79 laps this morning, the most of any driver during the morning session and had this to say about his morning’s work:

“It was very good for the first morning, Very different to last year, I have to say, Definitely feel with the new regulations the increased loads and bigger car, more grip.”

“Obviously it’s a completely different car anyway, different from the Williams – behaving slightly differently. But it’s still a car with four wheels, and an engine and a steering wheel. Everything was running very smoothly. First time on track today with the car, it’s a very good start.

We had zero problems on the engine side or with the car mechanically or aerodynamically, so everything was running smoothly, checking the systems.

The feeling was nice, good to feel the extra downforce. I’ve never driven a car with that much downforce, that’s for sure.”