On our recent review podcast, I wasn’t sure about what challenges Valtteri Bottas was struggling with in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. I was sure there was some talk about heat but I couldn’t recall and as we were doing the review right after the race, I hadn’t had a chance to read team responses.
After a difficult qualifyihng session, Bottas lost a place early on, was stuck behind Daniel Riccardo for longer than anyone expected and managed to claw his way back to fourth and a fastest lap point. Still, it was one of Valtteri’s more lackluster races of the season and we said as much.
In fairness to Valtteri, he was struggling with issues on his car and we should point that out.
“I can’t be very, very satisfied with P4.
“Obviously I at least made up a couple of places and got the extra point for fastest lap so that is positive but otherwise…
“The beginning of the race was tougher than I was hoping for. I lost one position being boxed in into Turn 2.
“There was a bit of a train of cars with DRS in the beginning.
“We were quite limited with engine overheating in the first stint and also the brakes overheating so we followed close enough to put pressure on.
“I was waiting for the opportunity and eventually they boxed.
“By that time I’d lost a lot of time to the top three cars.”
“When I was in clear air it was OK, I had no real issues,,” he said.
“And it was the same in the second stint – I felt quick. But everything comes down to [qualifying].
He added: “It was a degree or two warmer than the day before and we were kind of counting on being on the first row or at least the second row.
“But being on the third row makes it more difficult [to manage the temperatures].
“So we knew there could be trouble.”
That explains a little more about Valtteri’s troubles on Sunday and I didn’t want to leave a comment floating if there were legitimate reasons he was having a difficult day of it in Canada. One could argue that these issues may have been similar for Lewis but even if they weren’t, Valtteri has a lot of work to do to make this championship even worth watching up front.
Hat Tip: Autosport
This also coincides with the other issue where the heat of the brakes had melted the suspension on another car. The only thing I can imagine is that the heat of the entire area in Montreal was just too much for the cars. I find this surprising given the climate of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Is this a sign of poor quality in the materials or “global warming”? I don’t know, and I’m not sure that we’ll ever find out.
I was in Montreal for the race, and it was warm but by no means oppressively hot. Low 80’s Fahrenheit. The bigger issues as far as heat goes is the way the track is structured; it’s all straightaways and slow-speed corners, so you’re hit with one harsh braking zone after another. And outside the Casino straight, the straights between the corners are relatively short; just enough to get the car to top speed, but not enough to give the brakes a real respite.
The words “fork” and “stick” come to mind. Poor fellow, he’s lost the race for champion. Not his fault, MB know who’s number 1 driver, they built the car for him. Nothing wrong with that except for VB’s false desires and hopes.