Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsWilliams

DRS issue caused dramatic Bottas spin

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Valtteri Bottas says a DRS problem caused him to spin off at high speed during Friday practice for the Mexican Grand Prix.

During FP2, Bottas lost control of the rear of his Williams under braking for Turn 1, swiping the nose off the car against the wall on the outside of the track before coming to a halt in the run-off area. While cars are already down on downforce due to the altitude in Mexico City, Bottas says a DRS problem led to him hitting the wall.

"The rear wing stalled," Bottas said. "When I braked and the DRS closed the rear wing stalled so it was like the DRS was still open and I had no rear downforce. We made some modifications to the rear wing level and in the end it was OK."

While grip levels were very low on Friday, Bottas says it provides a good challenge as there are areas where a slight mistake is punished heavily.

"The second sector, the Esses, between Turns 7 and 10 [are hardest] because they were really slippery. Because we don’t have so much downforce, it’s difficult to get them right. And if you go deep in one of those corners that lap is gone."

With Nico Rosberg's rear brakes catching fire during FP1, Bottas says Williams is not facing any similar problems.

"I think it will be difficult for the brakes but we’re not suffering from any problems, so far. I think it’s one of the hardest tracks for the brakes but we should be OK."

AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix FP2

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.