Valtteri Bottas was very happy with his day’s work as he completed a full race distance with live pitstops, however it almost ended abruptly for the Finn after a spin at Turn 9.
Clocking up over 100 laps, the Finn brought Mercedes to over 300 laps for the two days testing so far, more than any other team in 2017.
Bottas also continued to evaluate a redesigned ‘t-wing’ which featured a second tier to it.
“I think it was another good test day for the team,” Bottas said.
“We did so many laps again and completed all the runs that we had planned to do.
“I worked on race simulations this afternoon. It was quite tricky with the windy conditions but I’m sure that we can learn a lot from the data.”
While Bottas did not get to try supersoft tyres unlike team-mate Lewis Hamilton as outright pace was not on the agenda.
“I had a small off but it wasn’t anything serious. I lost the rear end with a gust of tailwind that was quite sudden.
“This is testing – you need to find the limits. It’s interesting to learn more about the new car – not just for me personally, but for us as a team.
“All the set-up work we’ve done has been very valuable. Two more days to go – I’m looking forward to it.”
Bottas will resume driving duties for the morning session on Wednesday, Hamilton will take over again in the afternoon as Mercedes continue to split the duties each day.
