Mercedes technology director Mike Elliott believes Valtteri Bottas struggled to get into a “positive spiral” in Azerbaijan that eventually put him in the top 10 in Baku.
While Williams driver George Russell waits patiently in the starting blocks, Bottas is under constant pressure at Mercedes to keep his seat beyond 2021 when the Finn crossed line P12 on Sunday.
The Finn never finished ninth in any unit of the weekend and his racing performance saw him drop to sixth place behind Lando Norris in the championship standings.
“I can’t remember such a weekend,” said Bottas. “There were weekends when I had bad sessions, but at some point I always had the pace. But last weekend it was all the time, and during the weekend I didn’t understand what was going on.
“I know myself when it’s at the limit and I can’t get any faster and you’re still six, seven, eight tenths behind. It is not normal. We have to understand that before we go to France.
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“I think one of the difficulties on this track is getting the front tire to warm up,” said Elliott.
“It’s also a track where you have to have real confidence, the walls are very tight and if you get something wrong you will stick it in the wall.
“These two things kind of fit together because if you can go a little faster, if you get a little closer to the wall because you’re confident, then you get a little more heat into the tires because you have more duty.
“If you bring more heat into the tires, you get a little more grip and you can go faster and end up in this kind of positive spiral.
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