Bottas trusting in Mercedes after communication troubles

Valtteri Bottas is confident Mercedes will take its in-race communication to “a new level" following troubles during the opening two Formula 1 races of 2018 in Melbourne and Bahrain. 

A miscalculation under the Virtual Safety Car cost Lewis Hamilton victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, before Mercedes admitted it missed a 90 percent window of opportunity to win last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel held off Bottas’ late charge to secure back-to-back wins for Ferrari. 

The reigning world champions also faced issues with its pit-to-car radio systems in Bahrain, with Hamilton admitting his strategy was compromised after being left in “no man’s land” as he tried to ascertain how hard he needed to push at critical stages of the race. 

But Bottas revealed Mercedes has reviewed the matter following its communication blips in Australia and Bahrain and believes improvements can be made if required. 

“We’ve had a few meetings about that," Bottas said. "Everything has been reviewed and it was difficult because it was a race in which people were switching strategies, Kimi stopping suddenly and, for us, for example, when Sebastian stopped we had no idea what they were going to do with the strategy.

“Also for the team it is difficult to communicate how much how should push in each stint. With the two-stops it could have been different but we’ve seen the tyre wear at the end of the race. 

“If I had been pushing harder in the middle of the last stint – it’s impossible to say – but it could have been tricky with the tyre wear at the end of the race. But it was a race from which we were able to learn something in terms of feedback from the team and also, as a driver, if I feel I need more information I can always ask the team. 

“There’s no feeling within the team that there was a problem with miscommunication, so it was an opportunity to learn and take the communications to a new level, to improve it further.”

The Finn said he is confident in leaving the majority of his strategy in the hands of his engineers given that his team has a "much bigger picture" of unfolding scenarios around him. 

“I balance it 90% to the team because they know what is happening around and can see all the different live plan of the race and what is going on around me. I can only see a few seconds ahead a few seconds behind me and that is it. The team has a much bigger picture which is key. 

“It is important to communicate that and that is why communication is important because we need to give feedback to the team on how the car is feeling and be methodical.

“Afterwards, especially from the outside, it is easy to say things we should have done and we looked over all the scenarios and did what we thought would be best.”