SEPANG, Malaysia -- Valtteri Bottas suspects new aerodynamic parts may have been the cause of Mercedes' struggles during Friday practice in Malaysia.
On a track that was expected to suit Mercedes, Bottas and teammate Lewis Hamilton finished 1.4s off Sebastian Vettel's benchmark time in the second practice session. A new aero package -- featuring tweaks to the dive planes on the W08's nose and changes to the bodywork ahead of the sidepods -- was introduced for this round and Bottas believes it may have resulted in a backwards step.
"We did try some new aero parts today, so one answer may be that one of those parts didn't work as expected," he said.