Bottas knows what the problems were in Imola: 'Came 100 per cent because of that'

Valtteri Bottas failed to score any points in Imola after a crash with George Russell. However, the Finn was already driving too far from the back to really play a role in the race. The Mercedes driver points to his tyres as the problem.

In 2020, Mercedes surprised with the DAS system, which was mainly used to heat up the front tyres. In 2021 however, the system had to disappear, and when Bottas points out problems with his tyres after the GP in Imola, the question about DAS is not so strange. According to Bottas, this is not the problem.

Bottas highlights problem

''The problems we had in qualifying were 100 per cent due to the tyres. My Q1 time would have been enough for the second row of the grid in Q3 and I finished eighth. So we need to pay more attention to this aspect'', Bottas said to Motorsport.com. The Finn had to start from a distance and was unable to move forward in the rain.

''We have to put our finger on it, although it also varies from circuit to circuit. DAS was definitely useful but at Imola, it was the rear tyres that were the problem, not the front tyres. I couldn't get them up to temperature. The DAS system was only there for the front tyres. I'm sure we benefited from it last year but not necessarily for Imola,'' Bottas said.