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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has revealed his first impressions of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after practice sessions ahead of the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Finn believes the grip levels at the circuit were good and expressed doubts if there will be multiple pitstops in the race.
Speaking in the TV pen after the session, Valtteri Bottas revealed the biggest learnings of the day for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and said:
“Just to get a confirmation of the grip level. You obviously base our starting setup and simulations on estimated grip level and that can really changed it lot.Actually we didn’t start not really at too bad place and biggest surprise learning today was tires, they last quite well today. I am not sure we are going to see too many stops in the race.”
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According to the Finn, there was less tire degradation and the grip levels were good, making it easier to acclimatize to the new circuit ahead of the penultimate race of the season.
Bottas, however, felt traffic was a concern throughout the session. This compromised a lot of the runs on the soft tire compounds, which give away easily.
Bottas believes there's not much difference between the tire compounds at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix circuit
Explaining the gap between tire compounds and the challenges during the practice sessions, Valtteri Bottas said:
“Thats the feeling. Yes I mean all the compounds syndicate and actually mine and Lewis fastest laps were on the mediums. All the traffic was quite a challenge here, so theres non straights, theres always turning a bit so lots of blindspots.”
The Finn's Mercedes was classified third fastest in the first practice session ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, behind his team-mate and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Bottas was 0.223 seconds slower than his team-mate and 0.167 seconds behind championship leader Verstappen.
In the second practice session, the Finn was 0.061 seconds adrift of his team-mate and almost matched his pace for the majority of the session.
Bottas could target a win at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, however it will be interesting to see how his team strategize in the title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen.
