Bottas has found 'clear direction' despite Friday issues

Valtteri Bottas insists that he has found a clear direction with his Mercedes W10 for the remainder of the weekend despite the issues he had during Friday.

Before the on-track action began in the morning, Mercedes discovered an oil leak with his power unit, which forced him to revert to the Spec 1 engine.

In FP2, Bottas crashed the car, saying that the wind provided obstacles for the drivers, as Max Verstappen also crashed and cited the wind as the root of the issue.

MORE: FP2: Leclerc fastest as Bottas, Verstappen crash | Verstappen crash a result of being 'caught out' by wind

"It was pretty big but all okay, there's no pain, "Bottas said of his crash. "This morning we had an issue with the engine so I had to switch back to the old one for practice.

"That compromised me a little bit but I still found clear direction on the car setup and where to go. We made a lot of changes for FP2 which felt a lot better before the shunt. Overall a good feeling and the other teams are quick as well."

Hot temperatures will test cooling systems

Bottas added that the hot temperatures that are expected for the remainder of the weekend will vigorously test the team's cooling designs for the brakes and engine.

"It's going to be super hot, especially on Sunday," Bottas commented. "That's going to put cars on the limit for cooling on the brakes and engine. There were some gusts this afternoon and I managed to find one of them as well. 

"It made it quite tricky and these corners are unforgiving if you make a small error."