Valtteri Bottas believes irregular tyre pressures were to blame for the lack of pace in the opening stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Finn led away well from the start and managed to maintain the lead in the early laps of the race, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, team-mate Lewis Hamilton and both Red Bull’s in close formation.
“Not a good day,” said Bottas.
“We had an issue with the tyre pressures at the start. I don’t know what it was but I could really feel it in the first stint and was sliding around as early as Lap 2. The pace wasn’t good and Sebastian put us under real pressure.
“I tried to extend the first stint but I couldn’t keep up with the pace. The second stint was better but I was still struggling with oversteer and then I couldn’t get the rear-end to work in the last stint.”
Having lost out to Vettel in the first round of pitstops, the team sent the Finn out on fresh super-soft tyres in an attempt to try and come back at the Ferrari. However his struggle continued and he was forced to settle for third place.
Bottas added: “Under the safety car at the first stop there was a problem and we lost some time in the stop; maybe otherwise I would have just been in front but I know that the team will investigate the issue.
“I had some good racing with Sebastian after the restart but unfortunately it was just for a short moment. I’ve not had the race results that I’d been hoping for so far, but will be targeting a strong weekend in Sochi.”
