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Wolff thinks tyre management is a weakness Bottas must improve

Wolff thinks tyre management is a weakness Bottas must improve

25-06-2019 08:00 Last update: 08:59
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Bobby Vincent

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Valtteri Bottas must improve his tyre management in a similar way to which he has got better with his qualifying performances this season.

Bottas has enjoyed a much-improved start to the 2019 season. The Finn has qualified on pole three times already this season - but finished almost 20 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton in France - where he also had a near-collapse towards the end of the race.

"Valtteri has shown great pace on a single lap," Wolff said. "I think he's ramped up his game tremendously over last season to this season. Now the second weakness he needs to attack is the tyre management. He's very aware of that, where he needs to improve.

"There are tracks where he's as strong as Lewis or has been stronger when it's not rear-limited or slip-limited and on the tracks where that is more a factor, he just needs to change the driving style. And that is not trivial for a racing driver, but he has all the abilities to do that."

In France, Bottas admits that both Hamilton and himself were suffering with tyre issues: "We were suffering with some front tyres blistering in the last stint, so we were a little bit concerned and just wanted to be on the safe side so we would definitely make it to the end without any failure on the front tyre."