Bottas ‘learned a few tricks’ in testing

Quickest on the final day of the post-Bahrain in-season test, Valtteri Bottas reckons he “learned a few tricks” as he put in the laps at the Sakhir circuit.

Bottas racked up 143 laps on Wednesday as he replaced Lewis Hamilton in the cockpit of the W08.

It was an almost trouble-free day for the Finn, who did cause on red-flag stoppage when he ground to a halt four hours into the session.

The cause of the stoppage was traced back to a mechanical issue with the steering wheel.

He finished the day with a 1:31.280, which put him three-tenths up on Sebastian Vettel.

“Today was very good; we got so much running done,” said Bottas.

“We were focusing all-day on the long-run pace, which was a bit of a problem for us [during the Grand Prix] on Sunday compared to Ferrari.

“We did some interesting tests to try and improve both the tyre life and the race pace. We have definitely got plenty to analyse tonight.

“I think I learned a few tricks today as well.

“”To stay here in Bahrain for a test after two back to back races is tough, but the guys have done a great job over these two days of testing.”