Valtteri Bottas came just 14 kilometers with his Alfa Romeo C42 in the first free practice session for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix in Spa. He then pitted for the remainder of the session. The technology on his vehicle went on strike again, again it was “some leak”, as Bottas put it himself.
The Finnish racing driver has had similar experiences more often in the 2022 season and it is not the first time that he has lost important training time at Spa-Francorchamps. What’s more: “In the first training session, I didn’t have a flying lap at all. That’s not ideal,” says Bottas.
“But at least we did a few laps in the second practice session. But then the rain came and restricted our program a bit. Hopefully I can get in more laps on Saturday.”
All in all, Bottas completed 23 laps in Spa after Friday’s training. But the lack of track time is also reflected in the result: only 18th place among 20 vehicles, more than 2.9 seconds behind the leaders. Even teammate Guanyu Zhou ranked eight tenths ahead and just outside the top 10.
And why exactly? Because “something wasn’t connected,” says Bottas when asked. “It had nothing to do with the gearbox. It was more like a hydraulic leak or something. It seems like a simple connection part broke. That cost us our training.”
With a slightly resigned tone, Bottas adds: “We’ve learned from it again.” In any case, he had “mixed feelings” after such a day, where “valuable time” was lost again. “I would prefer to be able to do all the units, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
“We mainly struggled with the grip level”
After all: The balance of his C42 was “not that bad”, says Bottas. “We were mainly struggling with the grip level. I did my first laps on the hard tyres. They’re quite a step away from the soft tyres, feel strange, I was sliding a lot. I need a few more laps to to get through it properly.”
Because Bottas’ weekend is entirely geared towards Sunday’s race: an engine penalty throws the Alfa Romeo driver back on the grid.
Bottas says he will have “a few components” replaced on his vehicle. “At some point they would have been due. We thought Spa was a good opportunity.” Because the Belgian circuit is considered a place where overtaking is easier to accomplish than elsewhere.
But the vote must also match. Bottas: “Hopefully we’ll get through Saturday cleanly so that we can at least still drive with plenty of fuel. That fell through today because of the rain.”