Bottas led the opening training for the French Grand Prix on Friday before finishing second in FP2 and only eight thousandths of a second slower than pacemaker Max Verstappen.
Bottas struggled for the entire Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend two weeks ago, qualifying in tenth and finishing twelfth, which left him sixth in the drivers’ standings.
The strong performance in France came after it became known on Thursday that Mercedes had swapped Botta’s and Hamilton’s car chassis as part of the team’s planned rotation for the season.
After the second practice session, Bottas stated that he had more confidence in the car than in the last session, but was unsure whether it was due to the chassis change or the conditions at Paul Ricard.
“It’s hard to say whether it’s the chassis or the track conditions, but it’s a much better feeling than it was two weeks ago, that’s for sure,” said Bottas.
“I have the feeling that we started the weekend on the right foot. I have the feeling that everything feels fine and I’ve been comfortable and pretty fast with the car so far.
“It’s a different track but the balance is good, the tires work well and I’m confident with the car. I can trust the car and I think that’s the biggest difference.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Drew Gibson / Motorsport Images
Teammate Hamilton finished third fastest for Mercedes on Friday in France, finishing two tenths behind Bottas, but the Brit said the feeling in the car was “not much different” than Monaco and Baku when he was struggling.
“Even if the position is a little different than in Monaco and Baku, [it’s] quite a struggle this weekend I think probably for everyone, “said Hamilton.
“I don’t know whether it’s the road surface, the temperature, or those inflated tires. You are increasing the pressure higher than ever, one of the highest.
“I think it’s hard to tell. We’re all sliding around and it’s a fight out there I think for everyone.”
However, Hamilton didn’t believe chassis swap played a role in his struggles, saying that his car didn’t feel much different and that performance fluctuations between chassis were “very rare”.
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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff stated that the chassis swap was “part of the plan” to manage the mileage of the parts of the two cars and that a new one could always be used if it would help a driver.
“It’s good to get the feedback,” said Wolff. “If it calms the driver down, we have a brand new replacement chassis, we can always do that.”
When asked whether Hamilton thinks there is anything different about the chassis that he uses in France, Wolff replied: “It is the chassis that was great in Monaco, that Valtteri qualified at the top. But you never know.”
“They listen to the engineers and say it’s all tested and there shouldn’t be any difference.
“But if the driver feels that this is not the case, it is definitely not worth taking a stand here, then you just have to change.”
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