“I’m a little worried” - Bottas concerned by his lack of pace since Bahrain

After starring in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with P8, Bottas struggled for overall performance in Saudi Arabia and Australia.

The Finn was out-qualified and out-raced by teammate Zhou in both races.

In Saudi Arabia, Bottas blamed floor damage for his lack of race pace, while he started from the pit lane in Australia after Alfa Romeo made a number of changes to his car to try and solve some of his issues.

Bottas finished the race at Albert Park in 11th, only ahead of Carlos Sainz who was hit with a five-second time penalty.

“It was difficult to understand the overall picture of where we are going,” Bottas said after Australia. “It felt a little better, but hardly all the problems have been solved.

“I’m a little worried. Not where it should be. The mood is completely different than it was in Bahrain.”

Ex-F1 engineer Ossi Oikarinen agreed that Bottas was right to be concerned about his form.

“That’s not acceptable,” Oikarinen told Viaplay. “As Valtteri himself said, at this point you have to be worried.

“If you change the settings of the car well before the race and test the new one, and it still doesn’t work, then there is a fundamental fault somewhere.

“It is necessary to sit down with the team and think about what to do. 

“Such a race is not acceptable for Valtteri or the team. You have to press the reset button.”