Bottas gets his W08 'in the narrow window' once again

Valtteri Bottas attributed his step up in performance last weekend in Japan to set-up changes which have put his Mercedes once again in its optimal operating window.

Mercedes has struggled with an inconsistently performing W08 chassis this season, with the German outfit often finding itself at a disadvantage earlier this season against arch rival Ferrari in specific circumstances.

Mercedes' battle horse appears to favour a cooler environment and therefore lower tyre temperatures to fulfill its potential.

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While Lewis Hamilton appears to have better adapted to his car's volatile performance, his team mate struggled recently to extract the most of his Silver Arrows.

But aerodynamic updates and set-up tweaks in Japan appear to have put the Finn back on the right track in terms of performance.

"With the new upgrade package we approached Japan with a very different set-up," Bottas said.

"I think we managed to get the car to work much more in the very narrow window that it has.

"I think we didn’t set it up right in the Malaysia’s race, not even for the old package, but especially for the new package.

"We just got the car better into the window. We definitely learned something, mainly things related to aero balance, how to get the most out of the package.

"Definitely cooler temperatures, type of circuit also makes a difference, type of asphalt. We know we still have plenty of weaknesses, but overall the season has been strong."

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