It will also have happened to you to feel in your bones when a day starts badly as soon as you put your foot on the ground in the morning. Here, for Valtteri Bottas the day in question was in no uncertain terms the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix, perhaps one of his worst performances since wearing the Mercedes colors.
Starting from pole position, the Finn should have helped Lewis Hamilton in all ways by playing as a team, but the situation immediately worsened a few seconds after the traffic lights went out: Valtteri moved towards the center of the track in the hope of offering the skies to his teammate, but in fact he left the track free at Verstappen’s Red Bull, who comfortably found himself firmly in first position at the first braking.
And it was in Turn 1 that Bottas was hit by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren, spinning and finding himself in last position. From that moment on, bad luck did not leave him until he passed under the checkered flag.
“Today was a cursed day. The race was already compromised by Turn 1, when I was hit by Daniel Ricciardo and ended up spinning. My hopes of recovering completely vanished when I stopped in the pits to change tires, where we have I made a very slow stop due to a problem with the front tire. In addition, following the other cars overheated the engine, so more than that … “says Bottas at the end of the race.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Daniel ruined my race today: sure, I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose and he also compromised his, but certainly today was not my ideal day. I don’t know if the stewards will investigate after the race, not I still saw it on TV “.
Hoping to steal the additional point from Verstappen for the fastest lap, Bottas was called back to the pits to mount fresh tire. Here, however, bad luck did not abandon the number 77, making it return to the track right behind the leader of the race and therefore putting him in the need to split.
“It was not easy to find a good window to stop and not end up in traffic. The team told me that I could have overtaken Max if I had been faster, but then I lost speed towards him and had to return the position. A big problem What you face in Mexico is that the engine overheats a lot when you closely follow whoever is in front of you, the same goes for the brakes. You have to do a lot of lift and coast to preserve all the systems. The brake pedal gets longer and you risk compromising your race “, continues Valtteri.
“The weekend could have been much better: Saturday was a good day, I was very happy for qualifying of course. Getting the fastest lap is always something that excites you, but we could have run better.”
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Bottas is at his latest releases as Mercedes standard bearer, a situation he has been in since 2017 and which has brought him honors, poles and victories in his career. “I’m realistic, in Alfa Romeo next year it will be difficult to fight for pole, if not even a zero chance. But never say never, it could happen again in the future. Saturday’s pole will certainly not be the last of mine. career in F1 “.
Valtteri begins to look carefully to the future, where he will be behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo Racing starting next season. “In Alfa they have not really developed the car this season, I would not have expected any progress from them in 2021. I think they have focused on 2022 as early as January of this season. I have already been at the team headquarters a few weeks ago, it is a impressive structure. The simulator is good, but there is work to be done. And I have already done the seat test. I hope to be able to drive for them already from the Abu Dhabi tests after the last GP of the year “, concludes Bottas.
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