After yet more reliability problems in Friday practice, this time in Monaco, Valtteri Bottas joked about skipping the sessions altogether.
Bottas came into the Monaco race weekend with high hopes, that target of a podium finish very much still on the agenda for Round 7 of the 2022 season.
Such a result may still be possible, though the Finn was forced to make up for lost time for the fourth race weekend in a row when the MGU-K in his Ferrari power unit called it quits.
Unable to set a lap time in the opening session, an MGU-K and gearbox replacement was needed to get Bottas out onto the track for FP2, a session fortunately free of interruptions as he went on to finish P13.
Bottas was still in good spirits after FP2, revealing that he had shared a joke with Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur, about only showing up for the next race in Azerbaijan once Friday practice was finished.
Alfa Romeo have explained why Valtteri Bottas isn’t on track.
“We are investigating an issue which means we have to remove the PU and Box.”#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/Z0IKxi8AS0
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) May 27, 2022
“I told Fred already that for Baku I should maybe come on Friday night,” Bottas joked, in conversation with Motorsport.com.
“I mean, it’s unlucky. And another completely different issue, the MGU-K. I think the same issue in the same session happened to Mick [Schumacher], but I don’t think there were any in FP2. I’m sure they’re on it. I don’t know the cause.
“So not much we could do. I don’t think we can afford that many issues any more. And it’s still a long, long season to go. So let’s see.”
If a driver was to pick any race where they could stomach the loss of track time in FP1, Monaco would be right at the bottom of that list, this unique, demanding circuit rewarding driver ability and confidence more than arguably any other stop on the calendar.
So the significance of that FP1 spent on the sidelines in Monaco is not lost on…
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