Alfa Romeo has confirmed Valtteri Bottas suffered a significant performance loss during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after striking debris soon after the start.
Bottas reported handling problems throughout Sunday’s race, made an extra pit stop for soft tyres near the end and was the last runner to finish, a lap behind.
At the end of the race Bottas told his team he “ran over some massive debris” at the start. “I felt that in my ass,” he added.
After the race he told reporters “there was something wrong,” with his car. “I suspect I ran over some debris on lap one.
“Since the beginning of the race, I just had no grip. So perhaps some damage in the diffuser or something.”
An Alfa Romeo spokesperson told RaceFans the team had confirmed Bottas’ suspicions were correct. The damage is believed to have seriously compromised the performance of his car.
Bottas wasn’t the only driver to be compromised by damage due to debris at the start of the race. Lando Norris also ran over a piece of bodywork, which had fallen off the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri, and had to pit for repairs.
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Selected Bottas team radio messages
Bottas’ race engineer Alex Chan called him in for a pit stop in the race but cancelled the call for him to come in at the last moment:
| Lap: 11/50 | |
| Chan | Okay Valtteri, if we don’t make progress, we could consider going to hard. Piastri is just behind our ghost. Very quick on hard in free air. |
| Lap: 12/50 | |
| Bottas | [Unclear] |
| Chan | Repeat, repeat. We have to go this lap. |
| Bottas | I think box. |
| Chan | Box this lap. |
| Bottas | Hard. |
| Chan | Copy. |
| Chan | Correction, stay out, stay out, stay out. |
| Bottas | Copy. |
| Lap: 13/50 | |
| Chan | Okay Valtteri we’re back to Plan A. |
Bottas reported handling problems throughout the race which led him to make a second pit stop after the Safety Car period:
| Lap: 38/50 | |
| Chan | Compared to the cars ahead in cornering, we lose time on 16 exit and 23 exit. Try taking it easier on entries there. |
| Lap: 39/50 | |
| Chan | Suggest B-mid four for 16 and 22. |
| Lap: 40/50 | |
| Chan | Okay. There’ll be 15 laps to go next time around. We can consider the soft now. |
| Chan | Are you happy to go for the soft now, question? |
| Lap: 41/50 | |
| Bottas | Should we wait? I don’t know if anything happens. |
| Chan | We can go now Valtteri. If there is a Safety Car later, we can stop again. Let’s go. |
| Bottas | Okay, box. |
| Chan | Box, box, front wing for softs, question. |
| Bottas | Keep the same, the rear is weak. |
After taking the chequered flag in last place, Bottas said he was sure the car had…
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