Valtteri Bottas revelled in set-up changes to his Mercedes W08 between practice sessions as he led the way at the conclusion of Friday’s running for the Italian Grand Prix.
Bottas, having trailed Lewis Hamilton by 0.435s during the morning running, turned the tables in the afternoon, winding up with a 0.056s advantage to finish at the front of the pack.
Bottas, who struggled for pace during last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, feels he has begun the weekend in the correct manner.
“I think it was a good day – at least I have a better feeling than I had after the Friday in Spa, everything started on the right foot,” he said.
“Initially in FP1 we went slightly in the wrong direction with the setup, but we managed to change it around for FP2 and the car felt a lot better.
“Overall, it was a positive day, the car is looking strong, but obviously it's the next two days that count.”
Hamilton, having finished second, believes Mercedes can expect another close scrap with Ferrari, after Sebastian Vettel finished just 0.140s down on Bottas, in third place.
“It's been a good day, a clean day,” said Hamilton, who trails Vettel by seven points.
“We got the running done, we got through our programme with no problems.
“The car seems nicely balanced here. We just have some work to do to eke out a little bit more performance.
“It looks quite close between us and the Ferraris, so I anticipate it's going to be similar to the last race in that sense.”
