Bottas finds Mercedes' response to issues 'very impressive'

Valtteri Bottas called the Mercedes Formula 1 team's response to the issues that caused both its cars to retire in Austria "very impressive" as the Finn looks to end his poor run of luck at the start of the 2018 season.

Bottas took his first pole of the year in Austria, but was forced to retire after 13 laps while running second due to a hydraulic issue, ending his hopes of a maiden victory in 2018.

Mercedes' woes were not limited to Bottas' car as teammate Lewis Hamilton retired late on due to a fuel pressure problem, leaving the team to swallow its first multi-car retirement in F1 due to mechanical issues since 1955.

The team was quick to react to the issues, with Bottas keen to move on and look forward to this weekend's race at Silverstone.

"Last weekend doesn’t matter anymore, we’re looking at a new weekend. It’s a new opportunity for us to try and get the perfect result," Bottas said.

"The weekends before don’t matter, except for the things we could learn from them. We’re confident that any mechanical or technical issues we had have been solved, so I'm looking forward.

"Of course it’s never nice to end the weekend like that, especially for me personally, because the season hasn’t been going like I had really hoped for in terms of points and so on.

"But I have to accept it and I have to move on, so I really feel good ahead of the weekend, as I always do in race weekends."

Asked about Mercedes' response to the issues, Bottas heaped praise upon the team for its efficient work, calling it "very impressive."

"I followed a bit of the process of how they found the issue and how they reacted to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s really impressive," Bottas added.

"There were a lot of talks on Sunday night to identify it already. They did a lot overnight and by Monday it was pretty much fixed."

The Finn currently sits 54 points back from F1 drivers' championship leader Sebastian Vettel in the standings, but has seen decent chances for points in Azerbaijan and Austria pass by due to reliability issues. Bottas did not wish to dwell on his bad luck, though.

"I’m not really a superstitious guy. I don’t think there’s anything I can do for that, so I just move on," Bottas said.

"I just try my best again and I’m sure that, the way performance-wise this team is going, I know that if I keep working hard, good things will come.

"I’m hoping for that sooner rather than later."