© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Valtteri Bottas revealed Mercedes made a fuelling error during the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying which meant he carried too much fuel.
The error meant the Finn was slowed down a bit and ultimately qualified in P2, 0.107s behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
“We found that there was an issue with the fuelling system – something with the pipe or the vent where the fuel goes – so it was around two kilos or a bit more over-fuelled in qualifying,” Bottas explained during the British Grand Prix Thursday press conference.
“I think they said it [cost] like eight hundredths [0.080s] per lap, so that was true in qualifying after Q1. But I’m sure that the team has reacted to that and learned again from that and hopefully it won’t happen again. It’s not ideal when we are sometimes speaking about milliseconds in qualifying.”
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However the Finn suffered another problem in the race, he almost jumped the start, but ultimately wasn’t penalized. Bottas said there was an issue with his dashboard at the start of the race, more specifically a red light flashed and confused him for a moment.
“It was simply the rev lights on the dash and we’ve made changes so it doesn’t happen again, and I don’t get that kind of distraction at the race start that could lead to a mistake like that.
Bottas also had an issue with his car during the Styrian Grand Prix – his car’s ride height was a few millimetres off.
“I don’t think it really made a massive difference, maybe more in the wet; in the race I don’t think it was a bad thing, actually.”
