Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas had a successful Friday, topping FP1 and finishing third in FP2, but the Finn admits that it was a struggle to complete clean laps consistently.
Speaking to Sky Sports he explained how he was happy with where the team are. "I think in terms of pace it was not a bad start. It's good to see that we are there or there about although again it's going to be close no doubt but quite a similar feeling to last year."
The struggles resulted from both the choice of tyre and track according to Bottas. "It wasn't easy to get clean laps. The softer we went with compounds, for me, the more trickier the car became. The medium seemed to be the best working tyre but still more work to do."
The latter of the two being a main talking point for the hardship today, "quite a slippery tarmac and especially the rear of the car is pretty loose."