Valtteri Bottas admits he was “slightly surprised” by Mercedes’ advantage during Friday practice at the Italian Grand Prix.
It was business as usual as the German manufacturer finished one-two in both sessions at Monza. But in the afternoon, Lewis Hamilton was almost a full second clear of the field as he and Bottas were the only drivers, excluding a deleted lap for Daniel Ricciardo, in the 1m20s bracket.
Reflecting on the day, the six-time world champion admits the unique characteristics of the ‘Temple of Speed’ made gauging the car quite tricky.
“I’ve not really been looking at the times, I’ve just really been working on set-up, and so I don’t really know how close I am to him [Bottas] or he is to me,” Hamilton explained.
“Just trying to make sure I get the right balance for a single lap, as it’s really hard to overtake here, and then to figure out how to get the balance right for the race.
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“It felt like we made some improvement from P1 to P2, in P1 it didn’t feel great,” he added.
“But then because it’s all low downforce here obviously, a lot of sliding around, then FP2 some steps in the right direction. It’s going to be close between a bunch of people I think.”
Bottas added: “I think the performance and the lap times compared to others, it’s slightly surprising at this point. Of course we’ll see tomorrow.
“There is always more to come, for sure. I think my lap in practice two wasn’t that great, so also from my side, there’s quite a bit more to come. I’m sure it’s the same case for every team.”
Asked where he could improve, Valtteri replied: “I would say the biggest for me was lacking rear stability in a few corners, but other than that it was pretty good.”
One element that Mercedes was not impacted by in practice was the queuing on the run to Parabolica before a flying lap.
Last year, saw farcical scenes at the end of Q3 as most drivers, including both Mercedes’ failed to reach the start/finish line before the chequered flag in the hunt for a crucial slipstream.
And Hamilton is worried a similar situation will play out on Saturday.
“It was difficult in the past and obviously we didn’t even get to do the last lap last year, so I think it’s going to be interesting,” he said.
