Bottas parked at the side of the road at the end of the pitstraight, limiting his experience of the team’s major update package to test runs in the earlier session and just one flying lap on the medium tyre in FP2.
The Ferrari power unit, which was used by Bottas in the early races of the season, cannot be used again, pushing him towards grid penalties later in the year.
In Imola, Bottas suffered a broken exhaust and subsequent fire in Friday qualifying, and he was forced to miss Saturday’s FP2 session while repairs were undertaken. In Miami he had a huge crash in FP1, and had to sit out the later FP2 session.
Team boss Fred Vasseur said after the Florida race that Alfa Romeo needed to have a clean weekend in Barcelona in order to make best use of the update package.
The loss of valuable track time thus came as a blow, especially as the other car was shared by Robert Kubica and Zhou Guanyu, compromising the flow of feedback.
“Unfortunately, this seems a bit of a trend,” said Bottas when asked by Autosport about his ongoing misfortune.
“We seem to have tricky Fridays. I think this time it seems like it was an engine issue. So all we can do is look ahead to tomorrow and try to maximise the session.
“It’s nothing new for us. I’m sure we can still have a strong weekend, because based on that one lap that I had in FP2 the car felt good.”
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 Team, waits by a barrier
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Bottas confirmed the team made a conservative start in the first session, opting for a higher rideheight while running tests to ensure there was no porpoising with the new package before going lower later on.
“Based on that one lap in FP2 I can say that it seems to be working,” he said. “But FP1 it was difficult to judge, because I think we were quite conservative with the set-up in a way to try and avoid porpoising and everything.
“So we just wanted to gather the data in FP1. That one lap like I said to say it felt okay, so I think we can we can learn something even from a single lap like that, and at least Zhou got some long runs. I think we can still have a strong weekend.”
Vasseur admitted the loss of an engine and track time was a double blow for the team.
“It even damaged the bodywork so we’ll have to repair it,” he told Autosport of the engine failure. “It was the first one [used this year], so it could be worse, it’s not a disaster.
“But it’s a shame, because in FP1 we had to do a lot of tests, we didn’t do proper laps, and in FP2 we did only one lap. OK, it’s Barcelona, I think in two laps he will recover, and even the lap he did was a very good one.
“For sure it’s not an easy start to the weekend when you have one car split between two drivers, and the other one didn’t do a session. It’s not a drama, and I hope we have a clean weekend from Saturday onwards.”
Live: F1 Spanish GP commentary and updates – FP3 & qualifying
F1 Spanish GP: Leclerc beats Verstappen to top final practice
How F1 budget cap is reining in one-off developments
Horner: Red Bull happy for either Verstappen or Perez to be champion
The highs and lows of being F1’s latest supersub
The data that hints of an Alfa Romeo F1 surprise in Monaco
Bottas thought Spanish GP ‘could be my day’ before strategy backfired
Why Bottas is excited by life in F1 after Mercedes
Zhou explains “scary” Monaco save that led to new pants radio call
Why F1 is such a good deal for Alfa Romeo
Why Alfa’s 2022 F1 rookie feels less pressure than racing in F2
Binotto: Leclerc enhances ‘myth’ of Ferrari like Gilles Villeneuve
Russell: Albon has done “exceptional job” as Williams F1 replacement
The contrasting temperaments that could prove key in F1 2022’s title fight
How Ferrari, Mercedes’ initial absence helped make Drive to Survive a hit
The contrasting temperaments that could prove key in F1 2022’s title fight
For the first time in a decade, Red Bull and Ferrari are properly fighting it out for the world championship – and, as STUART CODLING reveals, the duelling drivers are children of the 1990s who are picking up a similarly old grudge match from where they left off…
How star-studded Miami Grand Prix reveals F1’s direction of travel
Home to many a cinematic car chase, Miami has made a visually dramatic impact on the F1 calendar too – as one wag put it, they paved a parking lot and put up a paradise. GP Racing’s STUART CODLING was on the scene to sample a world of celebrities, fake marinas and imperilled six-foot iguanas
Porpoising: A lesson from history and one of F1’s greatest teams
Although the 2022 Formula 1 season is destined to be forever linked to the word ‘porpoising’, this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it’s a problem that was identified at the start of the first ground-effects era and has returned with a change in the rules that once more allow downforce-generating floors
The longest-serving Red Bull driver revealing F1’s true brutality
His day of days in Formula 1 came at Indianapolis in 2005, a day grand prix racing strives to forget. But Patrick Friesacher, the long-serving Red Bull lieutenant, remains active today driving a two-seater that provides ordinary people with a glimpse of an F1 car’s savage potential, including this writer…
The mistakes putting Ferrari’s bid to end its F1 title drought in jeopardy
OPINION: After taking an early lead in the 2022 Formula 1 title race, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc have together made a series of high-profile mistakes to give Red Bull an advantage after the opening seven races. Here’s why Ferrari cannot afford to make any more errors this season
How Perez has been better for Red Bull in 2022
OPINION: One week on from getting a ruthless Red Bull team orders call at Barcelona, Sergio Perez delivered the team’s sixth Monaco Grand Prix victory and earned a two-year contract extension. This success backs up discernible improvements the team has noticed in driver who is now his country’s most successful Formula 1 racer
Monaco Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2022
Accuracy is more important than ever on a street circuit, and on Monte Carlo’s sodden streets, several drivers stepped up to produce superb performances in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. But on a track where overtaking is famously difficult, many were already resigned to a difficult afternoon by their qualifying performances
The six key F1 moments that meant Perez won Leclerc’s Monaco GP
After retiring from the lead in Spain with the failure of his turbo and MGU-H, Charles Leclerc looked set to bounce back in style in Monaco. He’d done the hard work in qualifying by securing the all-important pole position and led the wet early phases, but his Ferrari team made critical mistakes in tyre strategy that handed the race to Red Bull and Sergio Perez
