Finn missed Australian GP with a tear in the annular part of a disc in his lower back; Bottas has revised his seating and pedal position
Thursday 26 March 2015 17:17, UK
Valtteri Bottas says he is pain free and won’t require surgery on a back injury which kept him out of the season-opening Australian GP.
The Finn will return to action in Malaysia after being taken to hospital in Melbourne having developed back pain during the second qualifying session.
He was subsequently diagnosed with a tear in the annular part of a disc in his lower back and was declared unfit to race in the season-opening grand prix by FIA doctors.
“I am completely pain free, at least in normal kind of stuff and we will see while driving,” Bottas told Sky Sports News HQ after being passed fit to return to racing action at Sepang this weekend.
“But I am confident. We have done a lot of work with my trainer and a specialist and we have been doing some tests of driving positions and braking forces and I am confident that it will be okay.”
The 2011 GP3 champion is confident he will not need surgery on his injury after making revisions to the position of his seat and pedals in the Williams FW37.
“At this point it doesn’t seem necessary at all,” Bottas revealed when asked about a potential operation.
“We just need to keep working on the things we think caused this. We have quite a good idea and have changed the seat and pedal positions as well as more focussed training on those critical deep muscles in the lower back and hip area.”
With just the car of Felipe Massa competing in Australia, Williams slipped behind Ferrari in the battle to be best of the rest behind Mercedes, leading to a declaration by the Scuderia’s team principal Maurizio Arrivabene that they now have the measure of the Grove squad.
“Now we have two cars so let’s see,” added Bottas.
“For us it is like double points now. I think it is going to be a good fight all the way through the season and we just need to keep developing the car and pushing forward as a team. I think it is going to be good.”
However, in light of Bottas' injury and the doubt about his availability in Malaysia, Williams have announced the appointment of Adrian Sutil as their reserve driver.
Sky Sports F1 will show every session from the Malaysia Grand Prix weekend live and available on the move with SkyGo. The race starts at 8am on Sunday March 29, with comprehensive build-up underway from 6:30am.
