Valtteri Bottas has revealed to Alfa Romeo discovering “significant” damage on his car during its post-Spanish Grand Prix inspection.
After struggling for pace throughout the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Bottas finished 19th of the 20 cars that took the chequered flag. It was only the 15th time in F1 history an entire field has finished a grand prix.
Team-mate Zhou Guanyu, meanwhile, finished ninth to score two valuable points for the team, highlighting the difference between the two cars.
Post-race, Bottas suggested there was something wrong with his C43 when speaking to the media.
“For me, it’s pretty clear there was something not right with the car, because I was more than one second per lap off, just sliding around,” he said.
“Whether it was a mechanical or aero issue I cannot say, because the balance was not, like, way off, but there was just a lack of overall grip.
“So, we’ll see if there’s something damaged in the car.”
At the time he was uncertain whether it was aerodynamic or mechanical, but suggested it was a trait that had been present since qualifying.
The Finn has subsequently taken to social media to confirm an explanation for his Sunday struggles has been unearthed.
“I knew something was not right, and we found significant floor damage post-race which was costing aero performance. That meant no chance to fight for points,” he wrote on Twitter.
Although he did not elaborate on what caused the damage, Bottas did have an off-track moment early in qualifying on Saturday,
Held in tricky conditions, with a river running across the circuit between Turns 10 and 11, Bottas lost control and spun off the road in the opening moments of the three-part session.
Bottas was not alone as Fernando Alonso also speared off the track, bouncing through the gravel, and damaging the floor of his Aston Martin.
Bottas was able to recover but was eliminated in Q1 with a time three-tenths of a second slower than team-mate Zhou.
At the time, Bottas had the feeling something was wrong, even if he was unable to articulate it immediately post-session.
“Just never found the grip that I found in some of the practice sessions, sliding around, and never felt really comfortable in that session which is a shame because I really thought we had good potential here,” he said on Saturday.
Conditions went some way to masking it too, meaning his battles on Saturday were only amplified come the race.
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