Bottas out of FP3 due to drain cover damage

Valtteri Bottas was ruled out of FP3 at the Grand Prix of Europe after his car was damaged by a loose drain cover.

The Williams driver was returning to the pits at the end of his installation lap at the start of the final practice session when he ran over a row of drains at the pit entry. One part of the cover flicked up and punched a hole in the sidepod, with Williams having to inspect the damage.

After checking the car, Williams found the damage was too severe to get Bottas back out in the session, meaning the Finn will miss the full hour of practice on Saturday morning. The team found damage to the radiator and removed the gearbox from Bottas' car, working to repair it in time for qualifying, which takes place at 1700 local time (1400 BST).

Bottas had been quick throughout Friday practice, ending both sessions in the top four positions on the Baku City Circuit.

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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.