Valtteri Bottas says he “lost” the number of furnishings he recently worked through during a simulator session to better understand Mercedes’ tricky new Formula 1 car.
Despite Lewis Hamilton’s win at the Bahrain Grand Prix at the opening of the season, Mercedes believes it is lagging behind rival Red Bull in terms of pace and knows it needs to make improvements to its W12 to keep its undefeated title fight in the To continue the turbo-hybrid era.
With the new car suffering from imbalance and a particularly difficult rear end, the outfit believes that finding a good setup can help make big profits.
So, after the Bahrain Grand Prix, Bottas spent much of his time working in the simulator at the Mercedes plant to try to deliver what was needed.
“I actually went to Brackley and the simulator between races and tried to work on the setup, find answers and help the team as much as possible to really unlock the power,” he said.
“I didn’t count how many setup elements we tried out in the simulator. But at least when we get here we have a good selection of tools. “
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According to Bottas, Mercedes data suggests that Red Bull’s main advantage right now is in high-speed corners, while things are much closer in other areas of the track.
“It seems that Red Bull is pretty strong right now on corners at higher speeds,” he explained. “Otherwise there are really marginal differences here and there.
“But Bahrain is a kind of racetrack of its own, and we’ll see here, for example. The asphalt in Bahrain is very rough and grippy.
“It’s a lot more grippy here and less prone to tire overheating on this track, so we’ll see how it is.”
Hamilton said that despite his victory over Max Verstappen in Bahrain, things looked incredibly close between his outfit and Red Bull.
“I think it’s clear that Red Bull started really, really well with a great package and Max drove really well,” he said.
“So it’s prepared for a good season. Of course we don’t know what to expect in the next races with the different temperatures and different track surfaces, but it will be fun one way or another. “
When asked if Mercedes’ approach has changed because it didn’t seem to be the fastest team, Hamilton said: “Nothing changes for us. We’re approaching the weekend just as we always have. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
“I think we had several fights with Ferrari, with Seb when he was at Ferrari. I think we just have to keep our heads down and keep doing what we do.
“We love the challenge and as I said, it’s exciting for all of us to have such a challenge ahead of us. It is not one that we shy away from. “
Although Mercedes believes there is anything to play against Red Bull, Bottas believes the team will not get into a position where it can dominate races.
“I think it could be difficult to dominate a Grand Prix this year when you see the starting point, but you never know,” he said.
“But like I said, we only saw the cars on one track and we saw quite a lot of momentum on the performance track. So yeah you never know But I can’t really see anyone dominate this year. “
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