Valtteri Bottas says the problems his Alfa Romeo car had at the start of the French GP need to be investigated.
Valtteri Bottas says the problems his Alfa Romeo car had at the start of the French GP need to be investigated.
11th on the grid, Bottas skidded badly and dropped to 17th on the second lap. From then on, points were out of reach, and the timing of the safety car forced him to adopt a two pit-stop strategy, meaning a 14th position at the checkered flag.
Bottas and his teammate Zhou Guanyu faced clutch and anti-stall difficulties at starts earlier in the season, but the Finn said his problem at Paul Ricard was not clutch-related.
"It didn't seem to be a clutch problem, the wheels just slipped at the start, so we need to investigate why," Bottas told the media.
He also regretted not making significant progress in the peloton after his bad start.
"The pace was not as good as expected," Bottas commented. "It improved a bit at the end with the medium tire, but it wasn't great."