Valtteri Bottas has lamented the end of winter testing in the island Kingdom of Bahrain. Previously, F1 teams made the pre-season trip to the Middle East to avoid Europe's cold winter, but the practice was stopped for 2015 as a cost-saving measure.
So after this year's track preparations kicked off recently at Jerez, the sport is now busily setting up at another Spanish venue, the Circuit de Catalunya. "It was, of course, better to do it in Bahrain," Williams driver Bottas told the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat. "(It) Bahrain was so much closer to the kind of temperatures that await us in the world championship."
However, Bottas did acknowledge that as Barcelona is the venue for the Spanish grand prix, and as so much testing has taken place at the venue in the past, the work done in 2015 "will not go to waste". Williams' work will be aimed at getting the Grove team even closer to the 2014 pacesetters Mercedes this season, Bottas admitted.
"I hope we are closer this season," he confirmed. "We have a number of positive things that have made the car feel better than what we had last year, but all in all the basic feeling is similar to last year."
The new FW37, however, has been hailed up and down pitlane as an obviously tidy package, including its noticeably short nose that is expected to be widely copied in 2015. "I think Red Bull('s 2015 car) has a bit of the same ideology as us," said Bottas.
"I guess the solution is to get as much air as possible under the front of the car and to the diffuser," he explained. "It's better to ask the engineers for more detail on that, but it does look like a good solution for us." (GMM)
Bottas would rather have gone testing in Bahrain
- Published on 19 Feb 2015 12:05
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- By: Rob Veenstra
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Test calendar
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
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Jan 26
I. Hadjar
- 1:18.159
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Jan 27
M. Verstappen
- 1:19.578
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Jan 28
A. Antonelli
- 1:17.362
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Jan 29
G. Russell
- 1:16.445
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Jan 30
L. Hamilton
- 1:16.348
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 11
L. Norris
- 1:34.669
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Feb 12
C. Leclerc
- 1:34.273
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Feb 13
A. Antonelli
- 1:33.669
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 18
G. Russell
- 1:33.459
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Feb 19
A. Antonelli
- 1:32.803
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Feb 20
C. Leclerc
- 1:31.992
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Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
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Spain
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Bahrain
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Bahrain
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
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Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia
Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Driver profile
- Team Cadillac F1
- Points 1,608
- Podiums 61
- Grand Prix 211
- Country FI
- Date of b. Aug 28 1989 (36)
- Place of b. Nastola, FI
- Weight 70 kg
- Length 1.73 m
- 134,984 comments on Cadillac F1
2 members have this team as their favourite
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Team profile
- Team name Mercedes
- Base Brackley, Germany
- Michael Schumacher 3
- Nico Rosberg 4
- Nico Rosberg 6
- Michael Schumacher 7
- Nico Rosberg 8
- Nico Rosberg 8
- Nico Rosberg 9
- Lewis Hamilton 10
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli 12
- Lewis Hamilton 44
- George Russell 63
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- 632,786 comments on Mercedes
- 59 members have this team as their favourite
- Tweets about Mercedes
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