Even the presence of his mum couldn't help Valtteri Bottas achieve a points finish in Spain, as he struggles with car that didn't feel right.

Starting 16th, the Finn could only look on as his Alfa Romeo teammate, Guanyu Zhou claimed his second points finish of the year.

Unhappy with the car in qualifying, and with his team opting not to follow Ferrari's example and work on the car under parc ferme conditions, the Finn knew he was always going to be against it.

Joined on the grid by his mother, that was about as it got for the 10-time grand prix winner, who ended the day 19th.

"For me it's pretty clearly there was something not right with the car," he told reporters at race end, "because I was more than one second per lap off, just sliding around.

"Whether it was a mechanical or aero issue I cannot say," he admitted, "because the balance was not, like, way off, but it was just lack of overall grip.

"We'll see if there's something damaged in the car. Either something mechanical has been installed wrongly, before qualifying, something that affects the ride height or something, or there's something aero-wise. Yesterday we had really unique conditions, but I wasn't really on the pace in any of my laps, so that explains something."

With no realistic hope of a points finish himself, Bottas was at least able to assist his teammate, the Finn holding off Kevin Magnussen for a few precious laps allowing Guanyu Zhou to build a decent gap.

"It's good to see that my team-mate was up there, he could fight in the top ten, so that's positive," said Bottas. "But, first of all, we need to find out what was wrong with my car.

"I had a chat with Zhou and he was saying the pace was quite good... it's good, but not for me," he added. "It's good to see that the upgrades are doing the job."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Barcelona here.