Breaking news
Formula 1 Italian GP
Bottas struggling with "disturbance" on race starts
Valtteri Bottas has admitted he is struggling with some "disturbance" in his race start procedure, which is contributing to his poor getaways.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Sep 7, 2020, 5:32 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Mercedes driver had another slow start at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, after reacting too early to the red lights going out and having to stop himself.
It was not the first time that it has happened this season, with him having triggered his anti-stall at the Hungarian Grand Prix after initially going too early.
Bottas says that changes that have been made to the procedure he needs to run through before the lights go out are not going as smoothly as he would like, and it is clear that improvements need to be made.
"I had an issue with the actual reaction to the lights," said Bottas after the Monza race, where his poor getaway dropped him into the pack.
"We've been playing around with the way we do start practicing and the protocol of how we do it. We've changed that a bit, and I feel like there's been some disturbance sometimes at the actual starts.
"They've not fully been representative to the actual starts, although I can't go much more into into detail from my side."
Bottas said the early reaction to the lights at Monza was similar to what happened at the Hungaroring, but he did not get things so wrong this time.
"Again I nearly went for the lights, but luckily not as much as the other race I did it. So for the actual start I was a bit late.
"There's still things to work on that. The kind of the launch itself, after you drop the clutch, that part is fine and we've made good progress. But just getting that consistency into the reaction for start lights, there's work to do."
The poor getaway effectively wrecked his afternoon, as it dropped him down the order on the first lap and left him prone to attack from behind.
Matters were also not helped by what he felt was a mysterious car problem that left him feeling he had a puncture on the opening lap.
"Into Turn 6 I was on outside and had quite a bit of understeer, and then Turn 7 I had like a pretty big understeer, it felt like a puncture," he explained.
"Then out of Turn 7 the car felt like it was pulling a bit to the right and the left, like it didn't feel right, so I was completely convinced I had a puncture.
"So that's why I just wanted to make sure I'm going straight from Turn 8, so I lifted early. But then actually it kind of recovered and it was fine.
"So I'm not sure if I picked up something on the tyre or if something was wrong with the car from contact. I haven't heard yet anything with the corner weights or anything, but it felt really really odd. It was very, very messy first lap."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ocon in radio bust-up with Renault after Italian GP
Next article Ten things we learned from the Italian GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Valtteri Bottas completes three-day jungle ride to Singapore GP: "Your mind starts to play games at night"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Valtteri Bottas completes three-day jungle ride to Singapore GP: "Your mind starts to play games at night"
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Latest news
Marc Marquez praises MotoGP title rival Jorge Martín: “He is an incredible talent”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 7 min
Marc Marquez praises MotoGP title rival Jorge Martín: “He is an incredible talent”
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
3 h
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
10 h
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe