“Still not fully comfortable” – Valtteri Bottas unimpressed with Mercedes W12 after pre-season testing in Bahrain

“Still not fully comfortable” – Valtteri Bottas is concerned with the Mercedes W12 after challenging pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Valtteri Bottas had a mixed pre-season testing in Bahrain, with only Saturday ending on a good note for him. Mercedes in general have struggled so far, with Red Bull, Alpine, and McLaren looking most impressive. This has made the Finn admit this has been their worst start to a season in five years.

“With the team, it has definitely been the most challenging start to a season in terms of testing. Time is even more limited nowadays, so definitely not ideal. Only one-and-a-half days as a driver and for me day one was compromised. But at least I feel the recovery has been pretty good in the last two days. Overall the feeling is not bad.

“[But I’m] still not fully comfortable. We’ve been going forwards with the set-up and understanding of the car and getting it to behave better, but still, there is more work to do. From these busy few days, we will definitely have lots of data that hopefully can help us make the car faster when we race here.”

Valtteri Bottas confident of Mercedes W12 making a comeback

Mercedes have faced allegations of sandbagging these past few days, with suggestions they will eventually win the season-opener, also at Bahrain. Bottas on his part is confident of the W12 making a comeback, and helping Mercedes win their eighth consecutive F1 title.

“I absolutely believe the car, and the team has the potential to do so. I don’t believe it’s yet there as a package and in terms of performance, but I’ve no doubt we will work hard to find it somehow. As a team, we will be ready, no doubt. As ready as anyone else and hopefully even better.”

Also read: “The rear doesn’t feel too great with this new regulation change”- Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes W12