Valtteri Bottas got his first taste behind the wheel of the new Mercedes F1 W08. The Finn did not have any serious trouble but admitted that switching to a new team was harder than he expected.
Only Valtteri drove during the last test day as an electrical problem kept the team busy on Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately the day was a little bit shorter than we were hoping for but overall it has been a very good four days for us in Barcelona”, Valtteri commented.
“As a team we really made the most out of this week. We’ve done a lot of mileage and I learned a lot. We did some good running on the extreme wets and the intermediate tyres, before crossing over to the slicks. It was interesting to test in the damp track conditions and we got some very useful information about the intermediate tyre. We ended the day completing long runs on the slicks, to build up our understanding of the tyres ahead of Melbourne.”
“I’ve really enjoyed working with the team this week. Once again, all the mechanics and engineers have done a great job, and thanks to everyone at the factory, because the car has run so well.”
Valtteri Bottas explained that he feels more and more comfortable at Mercedes every day
“I still think there is work to do. Changing teams is maybe a slightly bigger thing than I initially thought it would be. But it’s not a hurdle that you can’t go over. It’s definitely possible and I’ve been working since the announcement, pretty flat out, to get comfortable with everything, and that’s why everything has run so far quite smoothly here”, he added, quoted by motorsport.com.
“And I’m sure next week we will make big progress. Still before Melbourne I have time to go back to the factory, analyse everything with the engineers. And I’m sure, I’m confident we are going to be ready and I will be completely part of the team before Melbourne.”
Bottas also commented that 2017 is probably the best moment to change teams because of the regulation changes.
Pleased with the 1st test. Learning loads. Great teamwork and mileage @MercedesAMGF1 ?? Looking forward to next week already! #VB77 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3ssHyYsp3v
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) 2 March 2017
