F1 News

Bottas couldn't have wished for a better Valentines Day as Mercedes launch W11

14 February 2020 at 14:20
  • Joseph Tyrrell

Valtteri Bottas was the first man to get the opportunity to take the W11 for a spin as Mercedes launched their 2020 challenger earlier today. The Finn has been giving his thoughts after taking it for a drive around Silverstone.

A big year for Bottas

2020 will be a big year for Bottas. After a dismal 2018, last season was certainly an improvement as he finished second in the Drivers' Championship, winning four races. His showing was enough to earn a new contract but expectations will be on the Mercedes driver to further challenge his teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

His first ride in the W11

Bottas was the first to get the opportunity to drive the W11 as he took the cockpit at today's launch. The Finn was fairly positive in his reflection of his first outing.

"Just had the first few laps in the W11, always pretty cool to be the first one to drive it," Bottas said in an interview on Mercedes' Twitter.

"Initial feeling, good, everything works that's a start. Nothing really wrong with the car at this point, obviously it is more like checking the system, making sure everything works and getting a good feeling of the car.

"Good feeling, I'm sure there's still lots of feedback to give to the guys and they have lots of data to go through over the next few days before we start testing to make further improvements for Barcelona."

The former-Williams driver went on to praise the work the team have done and even joked he couldn't have wished for a better Valentines Day.