Bahrain opened Mercedes' eyes to W09 weakness - Bottas

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Despite his second place finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas moves on to China aware that the weaknesses of Mercedes' W09 have been exposed.

The Silver Arrows outfit was left chasing Ferrari all weekend in the Bahrain heat, and the race Sunday evening was just another reflection of the team's lack of pace on abrasive tracks relative to its Italian rival.

"I think this weekend has really opened up our eyes in terms of how much we still have to work with the car," said Bottas.

"In certain conditions it’s really fast but like yesterday [qualifying] we could spot some weaknesses and even today.

"It’s been an important weekend, we need to make sure we keep improving what are the negatives of the car, compared to Ferrari."

Hamilton critical of Verstappen after Bahrain clash

The Finn's thrilling battle against Sebastian Vettel in the final stages of the event saw the Mercedes driver snapping at the heels of the leader as he made the most of his medium tyres against the Ferrari's worn out soft rubber.

Bottas came close to overhauling the future winner, but not close enough.

"When you’re closing up on the car ahead and you get to the braking zones you lose quite a bit of front downforce because you’re running in turbulence, that mainly affects the front end and it’s a bit easy to lock up the front wheels," he said.

"It’s early days, but anyway it was a lot better than two weeks ago and today, the race pace we had, was actually slightly better than what we expected coming into the race, so that was positive."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.