Valtteri Bottas has finally spoken out about his dismal performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Cadillac Racing driver admitted he suffered from damper degradation and an old-spec Ferrari power unit that cost him significant time.
Damper and Power Unit Issues
Bottas explained that damper degradation worsened his car's ride characteristics as the race progressed. "I understand it looked pretty bad from the outside; I felt pretty bad in the car as well. There was just no way to keep up with the pack," he said.
Furthermore, he was running an older-spec Ferrari power unit while his teammate, Sergio Perez, had the latest ADUO 2 engine. This made Bottas consistently 6-7 km/h slower on the straights.
Cornering Difficulties
Bottas also revealed he struggled to carry speed through corners like Perez did. "Already in practice, I was lacking pace. I couldn't carry the same speed through the corners as Checo," he added.
The team made significant changes for qualifying, including swapping dampers and floor. Although it felt better, the issue resurfaced during the race due to extreme heat.
Cadillac Infrastructure
Nevertheless, Bottas rated Cadillac Racing's infrastructure as quite strong and continuously improving. However, he acknowledged a lack of aerodynamic information due to missing pressure tappings on some floor areas.
"We are still blind on some bits of the floor. But feeling-wise, it was more the ride, and that's in combination with power steering that was degrading a lot throughout the weekend," he explained.
Bottas' race ended in disaster on the final lap with a crash at Turn 15 after the power unit failed to provide correct engine braking while superclipping.
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