Valtteri Bottas could join Fernando Alonso as a spectator for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix tomorrow after being sent to hospital with back pain.
The Williams driver, who finished fourth in the drivers’ standings in 2014, was sent to the Alfred Hospital after undergoing tests and scans at the circuit medical centre in Melbourne. The Finn qualified sixth on the grid at Albert Park and will rest overnight in the hope of being fit enough to race.
“He felt pain under braking at the end of his second attempt in qualifying two, and then it kind of escalated from there through the third qualifying,” Rob Smedley, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, said.
“I think he was in a great deal of pain then, but he still managed to be three-tenths [of a second] off the little group in front - the two Ferraris and Felipe - so he did a really good job. It’s not for me to say [if Bottas would be able to complete the race] to be honest. That’s for the medical people to say.
“He was checked out at the medical centre and he has gone to hospital for further checks, and that’s all we know at the moment. The update will be tomorrow. But he will go back to his hotel and he will rest - he’s not being kept in [at the hospital] overnight - and he’ll come back in tomorrow and be checked over.”
Advertisement
Bottas, who has had six podium finishes during his Formula 1 career, remained optimistic about his and his team’s chances in Australia.
The 25-year-old believes that Williams have shown enough quality in the build-up to the season opener to leave their mark on the constructors’ championship this year.
“Under the circumstances I’m happy with sixth place, but as Felipe proved, this is not a true indication of our pace,” Bottas said. “Given the back complaint I had during the session, the team and I felt it sensible to get me checked out at the local hospital and we await their diagnosis.”
“It was great to finally start the season and to have a very tight qualifying session. The car performed well and we were fighting with Ferrari throughout. Unfortunately towards the end of Q2 I started to feel a pain in my back.”
Should Bottas be ruled out, Williams will run only one car, driven by Felipe Massa, who claimed third on the grid behind the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Susie Wolff, the development driver, is at Albert Park this weekend but the 32-year-old Briton is ineligible to race because she has not taken part in any of the practices.
Advertisement
Massa, in the second Williams car, enjoyed his best-ever qualifying result in Melbourne but was still 1.4 seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole time.
“[Mercedes] are in a different category,” Massa said. “[In] the race we can do a good job, definitely. The fight is really tough with Ferrari. We are really at a similar pace and it won’t be an easy race. But we are there in the fight and really looking forward to starting the season well with both cars.”
The Australian Grand Prix is already without Alonso, the McLaren driver, who was airlifted to hospital in Barcelona after a crash in testing, where doctors ruled him out of the race until he is fully recovered from concussion.