Valtteri Bottas says an investigation is needed into the troubles his Alfa Romeo had at the start of the French Grand Prix. Starting 11th on the grid, Bottas had severe wheelspin at the start and had dropped to 17th by Lap 2. From then on, a points finish looked unlikely, and the timing of the Safety Car forced him onto a two-stop strategy, meaning the best the Finn could do was 14th by the chequered flag. Bottas and teammate Zhou Guanyu had struggled with clutch and anti-stall issues at the start of Grands Prix earlier in the season, but Bottas said his problem at Paul Ricard was not clutch-related. "It felt like it's not a clutch issue, just wheelspin at the start, so [we] need to investigate why," Bottas told media including RacingNews365.com .
Bottas says Paul Ricard pace worse than expected
Bottas also lamented that he was not able to make significant progress through the field following his bad start. "The pace wasn't as good as expected," he commented. "It was a bit better at the end with the Medium [compound tyre], but not great." Bottas currently sits ninth in the F1 Drivers' Championship with 46 points and a best finish of fifth at Imola, but neither he nor Zhou have scored points in the last three races. In the Constructors' Championship, Alfa Romeo sit sixth with 51 points, but seventh-place Haas have closed in on them by 14 points over the past three Grands Prix.
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