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Seat and pedal position change for Bottas

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Williams has changed the positioning of Valtteri Bottas' seat and pedals to ensure he does not suffer a repeat of the back injury which ruled him of the Australian Grand Prix.

Bottas suffered soft tissue damage in his lower back under braking during Q2 in Melbourne, a pain he likened to being stabbed in the back. He was not cleared to race by the FIA the following day but, having worked with a physiotherapist over the last two weeks, has been cleared for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Finn was in good spirits on Thursday and says Williams has taken all the necessary measures to ensure it does not happen again.

"It's good," he said about his back. "No pain, so that's nice! We have a really good idea [of the cause] so we have changed the seat and pedal position quite a reasonable amount, so the back is in a more neutral position in the car - so less pressure for the discs. We are confident that should be it … a lot of work for all the muscles in the lower back and glute area."

Bottas said he does not have a history of similar injuries.

"I've never had any problems with lower back. Obviously that kind of thing takes a bit of time to build up but there was no warning, it just went suddenly. I never had any pain before. At the end of last week I could do something without any pain. During the weekend I did some swimming and cross-training without any pain, so the recovery was very good. We've done everything we can in this period and luckily there was two weeks - I feel confident to go back into the car."

Though he respects the FIA's decision, Bottas thinks he could have raced in Melbourne having passed all the necessary tests.

"It's maximum braking into Turn 13, it was my last timed lap of Q2. I really felt it went there, like someone putting in a knife, and the pain was ramping up until midnight. It started to ease off and in the morning I would have been ready to race.

"I did pass the tests but they had all the access to the material from the hospital - MRI and stuff. Maybe they thought it was better in longer term, which could be true. It was very disappointing not to be able to race but I respect the position of the FIA and the support has been great from them and the team. Now they say I am fit to race, which I also feel, which is good."

However, Bottas is unsure he could have made the chequered flag had he raced in Australia.

"That's a question mark. Certainly I would have tried. The plan was I would have done the laps to the grid then we would have reviewed with the team the situation. So I really cannot answer that question."

Nate is assistant editor of ESPNF1

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