Bottas links Mexico crash to brake heat as team lowers temperature limits

Valtteri Bottas says brake heat contributed to the suspension failure that sent him into the barriers in Mexico. His team has since changed component specifications and operating limits ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, he said.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix media day four days after the crash, Bottas said some heat from the brakes is currently transferred to the suspension. The car had spent too long in what he called the ‘danger zone’, he said. The team had thought the temperatures were safe, but had not tested whether the car could run at them for that long.

‘This sort of thing should not happen,’ Bottas said. The team has reviewed its temperature limits, returned some components to their previous specification and lowered the maximum temperatures at which the car is permitted to run, he said.

Bottas’s left-front suspension broke at the end of the long straight in Mexico, sending him into a Tecpro barrier. About three and a half minutes passed before he got out of the car, and he reported over the radio that he was not entirely okay.

Bottas said the crash had hurt and left him bruised, but that he had suffered no serious injury. It took a few days before he felt normal again, he said.