Bottas reveals: "I don't think we will see many stops on Sunday"

After the first kilometres on the brand new Jeddah Corniche Circuit the majority of the drivers agree: it is a spectacular track. Valtteri Bottas also enjoyed it. He finished the first two sessions third and second respectively.

"The track is really cool," Bottas said in a Mercedes press release. "It's full throttle and you go close to the walls at high speed. That's exactly what you want and like - it's an adrenaline rush."

"In FP1 the track was better than I expected," continued the Finn. "A bit dusty but thanks to the other racing classes that drove here this weekend, it got better step by step. They did a good job with the asphalt. The grip was very good, despite it being new, and there were no real bumps."

Mercedes looked strong in the first two practice sessions and Bottas expects to continue that line. "You base your starting grid on the simulations and the estimated grip level and we started in a good place," he continued.

"The biggest surprise today was the tyres - they held up well and I don't think we'll see many stops on Sunday. All the compounds seemed to work well here, even if you felt that the softs let down a bit in the high-speed corners," concludes the Mercedes driver.