Mercedes looks fast: 'I feel this could be a strong weekend'

During the Turkish Grand Prix last year the drivers had a lot of trouble with the new asphalt. There was little grip and with the rain during the race, it was extremely slippery on the track. According to Valtteri Bottas Istanbul Park is now one of the circuits with the most grip on the F1 calendar.

Work has been carried out on the tarmac to ensure the same problems do not recur this weekend. The lap times of the second free practice session were already about five seconds faster compared to last year. Bottas also feels the grip has improved, he is quoted on Motorsportweek.com.

“It was a lot faster, I think it was over 10 seconds faster than last year in FP1,” Bottas said after Friday. "Now there’s proper grip, and I think it is one of the grippiest tracks we have in the calendar so that obviously makes the track more fun. We could take a different approach with the car set-up compared to last year, because of that, and we had to react and adjust quite a bit during the day, so I enjoyed it."

Bottas expecting a strong weekend

Mercedes are looking strong after the two free practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man on track in both sessions. The Finn, who finished third in FP2, also thinks it will be a good weekend for the team. "In FP2 the feeling was actually pretty good, no big issues with the car, so I feel this could be a strong weekend for us," Bottas said.