Valtteri Bottas is pretty sure that the drop in pace for Mercedes from FP1 to FP2 comes from a set-up change, but he hopes that the pace is not genuine. While Mercedes were fastest in the first session, their running in the afternoon was disappointing as Lewis Hamilton and Bottas could only manage eighth and tenth respectively.
Hamilton's fastest lap was over a second down on Sebastian Vettel, who ended the session on top with a time of 1:12.720. Despite the worries, the Finn is confident that his team can fix the issues.
"I hope it is not real," Bottas said. "We made some changes from Practice 1 to Practice 2, mechanical changes, and it went in the wrong direction. I think we know how to fix it but the other cars are good. Getting lap 1 out of the tyres for us is impossible so we need a few more warm up laps but that seems to be the same with everyone."
Indeed, drivers were seeing complete four or five laps before setting their fastest time on the ultra soft tyres as they attempted to get them up to temperature.
Fergal Walsh
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Speak for yourself Bottas