Australia 'not a disastrous first race' with Mercedes, says Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas had a solid first GP weekend with new team Mercedes in Australia, securing third place behind Sebastian Vettel and teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas dropped back in the first stint, but caught up with Hamilton in the closing laps.

“There are always things that could have gone better but it is a good starting point for the journey for me driving for Mercedes,” said the Finn. “I think the main things were obviously yesterday, the qualifying, I didn’t get everything perfect but it was the first qualifying with the team and this track really hasn’t been fantastic for me ever in qualifying. But there’s a long season ahead.

“Overall, I think not a disastrous first race weekend with the team but I do have my points I will take and I can do better next time and I look forward to that.”

Bottas struggled with the ultrasoft tires in the first stint.

“Today, I think the race was good. As a team I think we did a good job with the car we have. I think Ferrari was quicker today, there’s no doubt about that. They have obviously done a great job and a better job for this race. From my side the main thing today was the first stint.

“I struggled quite a lot with the ultrasoft tires. It felt like I was just sliding around, always missing front grip, rear grip, especially after like 10 laps of the first stint. That wasn’t easy. But once we put the soft tires on it was quite a good feeling with the car and the car was behaving really nicely. It was really nice to drive. But it was a bit too late and still missing a bit of pace.”

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