Valtteri Bottas remains unlucky on Formula 1 Fridays. In Monaco, the Alfa Romeo driver missed a training session for the fourth time in a row because a defective MGU-K stopped him in the first session and he was only allowed to drive two laps.
“I’ve already told Fred (Vasseur, team manager; editor’s note) that I might not be able to come to Baku until Friday evening,” says the Finn with humor. At least he was able to add another 28 laps in the second session and thus secure 13th place (+1.812 seconds).
Bottas’ bad luck began in Imola when he had a broken exhaust pipe including a fire in qualifying on Friday and had to skip practice on Saturday morning. In Miami he missed afternoon practice due to an accident in practice one and in Barcelona his engine died after just one fast lap in session two.
In the first practice session in Monaco, he again only managed two laps before a defective MGU-K ordered him into the pits. “It was just bad luck – and again a completely different problem,” Bottas does not even see a connection to the other incidents.
“We couldn’t do much there. And I don’t think we can afford many more problems because the season is still very long,” says Bottas.
With the permitted engine parts, he is already at the limit with the turbocharger, the MGU-H and the control electronics. A new MGU-K would bring him to the permissible limit for this element as well. That means: A further exchange would then bring him a penalty transfer in the starting line-up.
MGU-K responsible for punishment
By the way: The defective MGU-K is said to have been the reason why Bottas drove too fast in the pit lane. Despite his only two laps, he was speeded at 81.9 km/h at the permitted 60 km/h, which earned him a 1,000 euro fine. “The MGU-K was still on. I was at the limiter but couldn’t slow down,” he explains. “That was strange.”
And although Bottas lost a lot of training time in Monaco of all places, he hopes to make it into Q3 tomorrow: “The car should be good enough for the top 10. I see no reason against it,” he says. “But I still have to find something from my side and we still have to look at the set-up.”
With the stiff suspension and uneven track, he also wants to see how he can make the car a little more comfortable. “We’re looking at what options there are and how we can find even more power,” said Bottas.
Shocking moment for Zhou
Teammate Guanyu Zhou also had some technical problems on Friday. The Chinese, who finished the day in 15th place, experienced a moment of shock at the end of the first session when the brakes failed at the end of the tunnel. Zhou avoided an accident but missed the opening minutes of the second session.
“It was pretty scary,” says Zhou. “It was right at the end of the tunnel, so I was lucky. That’s why we started a bit later. But everything was fixed and the session went pretty smoothly.”