Valtteri Bottas has lost his P15 starting spot for Sunday’s British Grand Prix as he was disqualified from qualifying because his car failed to provide the necessary 1 litre of fuel required.
The Finn stopped at Becketts at the end of Q1 after he had made it through in P11.
It moves Sergio Pérez up one spot as the Mexican will start in P15 for the second consecutive Sunday now.
FIA document:
“The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 77 (Valtteri Bottas).
“The car was unable to provide the required fuel sample. There were no mitigating circumstances.
“The Stewards have received a request from Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake to allow Car 77 to start the race. The Stewards therefore grant permission for Car 77, Valtteri Bottas to start the race.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”
Speaking to written media following his return to the paddock, the 33-year-old explained he didn’t know what caused it.
“Not yet. We need to find out. There’s obviously many reasons that can cause the engine to stop. So I don’t know. It’s a shame, but not much I can do for that.”
Bottas made it through by 0.170s in another incredibly competitive session, although he didn’t know if at the time.
“I didn’t actually see the final time from Q2 I don’t know how far I was from the from the cut-off, but at least we made it through to Q2 this time, and it’s actually extremely close.
“So I think we made some steps from yesterday. So now we still need to wait till tomorrow that we see how is the pace.”
Alfa Romeo brought a raft of updates to Silverstone this weekend and the 10-time Grand Prix winner believes it has helped them in high speed sections.
“It’s a step. I definitely feel the step and I think today we managed to extract a bit more with a setup. It seems like it needed a different setup in terms of ride height and everything.
“So now it actually felt a step, more high-speed load basically, without affecting the low-speed performance.”
Photo credit: Alfa Romeo Racing
