Valtteri Bottas: 'Something was wrong at Ferrari in Melbourne'

Leader of the world championship before the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, Valtteri Bottas will be keen to continue its excellent start to the season, marked by success in Australia, and a second place in Bahrain.

A ranking made possible in particular thanks to the bad luck of the Team Ferrari in Bahrain, where Charles Leclerc seemed to be flying towards an easy victory before a technical problem (short circuit in the injection system) does not deprive him of a first success in the discipline.

Valtteri Bottas recalls before the Shanghai meeting that the real rhythm of the SF90s of Leclerc and Hag fits the scenario of Sakhir more than that of Melbourne's Albert Park.

“There was an unusual performance gap for Ferrari between the first and second races, underlines the pilot Mercedes. Clearly something was wrong for them in Melbourne, and now we have this image after Bahrain. »

Faced with the expected performance of the SF90s on the Chinese track, with a long straight line which could favor the Power Unit of Maranello, as admitted Lewis Hamilton or even Toto wolff, Bottas believes that Mercedes has weapons to oppose to the transalpine clan.

“We know areas of improvement and developments are coming to the car here (including a redesigned front wing), continues Bottas. I hope this will make us more successful. »