Valtteri Bottas’ Austrian weekend begins uphill. The Alfa Romeo Sauber driver will have to start from the back of the grid on Sunday due to the replacement of numerous elements on his power unit.
A new engine, a new turbocharger, a new MGU-H, a new MGU-K and a new ECU were mounted on the car of the two-time winner of the Austrian GP before the start of the FP1.
For each of these elements Bottas has exceeded the seasonal limit established by the FIA and therefore the penalty was automatically taken and will be applied directly on Sunday. Valtteri, in fact, will predict the start of tomorrow’s Sprint Race from the position on the grid that he will conquer at the end of today’s qualifying.
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 Team, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo F1 Team, walk the track with their team members
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
The same procedure had always been applied with Bottas last year in Monza after Bottas had achieved success in the Sprint Race.
For Bottas, who currently occupies eighth place in the standings with 46 points, this is a new blow after retiring last weekend at Silverstone due to gearbox problems.
During the press conference on Thursday, the Finnish driver spoke about the reliability problems that Alfa Romeo Sauber has accused this season.
“It’s not always a single problem, but different things that keep happening and prevent us from scoring.”
In addition to Bottas, Lando Norris has also replaced the engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K on his McLaren, but he will not have to serve any penalties as he has not exceeded the seasonal limit. However Norris in the opening stages of FP1 had to immediately stop his car due to a technical problem that caused a short interruption with a red flag.
#Bottas #power #unit #start #bottom #Sunday