F1 | Mercedes, Bottas: “I hope for rain on Sunday”

Valtteri Bottas was not at all easy on Friday, taking a full six tenths off Leclerc's time in Hockenheim, suffering a half-second delay from teammate Hamilton, too much for a track that takes around one minute and thirteen seconds. The Finn had problems already in the morning with the excursion to the Motodrom, while in the afternoon he was unable to complete a clean lap.

“It was very hot, I don't remember the last time I drove in these conditions, but it was like that for everyone – Bottas said. All this makes life more difficult for drivers, cars and tires: there was a lot of overheating, especially in the third sector. We have made some progress on our cooling system, struggling more than we should have in Austria, but with this new package we could still complete the long runs. Tomorrow and Sunday everything should be different, with lower temperatures and the risk of rain, so we will have to react by intervening heavily on the set up. We've never raced in the wet this year, so hopefully we can do it on Sunday, it would be nice."