WATCH: Bizarre moment in Styrian GP practice as Bottas spins in the pit lane

Valtteri Bottas needs a good result in the Styrian Grand Prix this weekend, but his preparations for the race took a bizarre turn in second practice when he spun his Mercedes in the pit lane.

The Finn is currently fifth in the championship, 60 points behind his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton after a tricky start to the season. He took victory in the first race at the Red Bull Ring last season and would have arrived in Austria looking to repeat that result in this weekend's Styrian GP.

But after stopping for new tyres in FP2, Bottas pulled out of his pit box and appeared to overdo it on the throttle, with the car spinning sideways as Bottas hit the brakes. The car skidded to a stop facing sideways outside the McLaren garage, with the Woking team's pit crew then helping push him backwards before he got going again.

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The McLaren team manager was later heard reporting the incident to FIA Race Director Michael Masi over the radio, and soon after Race Control confirmed that the incident – which you can see in the clip above – would be investigated after the race, with Bottas and a team representative summoned to the stewards.

After the session Bottas explained what happened, and said he would be surprised to be given a penalty.

"Yes, I spun," he said. "We tried something different getting out from the box and it was... yes – there were some variables to what we normally do with the wheelspin and that’s why I spun.

"I would be surprised if there is [a penalty]. It’s a normal mistake, it happens, but yes, I’m sure they’ll understand what happened."