In Qatar the Mercedes was able to celebrate the second consecutive victory of Lewis Hamilton, who has now climbed to -8 in the standings by Max Verstappen, with two GPs still to be played. For the teammate of the seven-time English world champion, Valtteri Bottas, Losail Sunday was, however, yet another one to forget in this fluctuating 2021 of his. After having suffered a retreat of three positions on the starting grid and having once again taken a very bad start when the traffic lights went out, the Finn had managed to straighten his race, climbing up to third place and finding himself in contention for a final placement close to of the podium.
The Brackley team, however, put too much effort on the medium tires on the car of the native of Nastola, who during the 33rd lap of the race was the victim of a spectacular drilling. Bottas tried to resist, despite a couple of dangerous runs, and managed to get back into the pit lane quickly. The team sent him back to the track in the hope of scoring some points in the championship and above all with the great goal of taking away from Max Verstappen the chance to score the quick ride. With nine laps to go, however, the vice-world champion 2019 and 2020 waved the white flag, withdrawing his car.
A decision made by the team and clearly explained by the technical director, Andrew Shovlin. “We couldn’t really imagine how it would be possible to enter the points with him – commented the British engineer, as reported by the site RaceFans – there was quite a bit of aerodynamic damage. We were starting to have other vibes on that set of tires. In the end we decided that scoring points had become something so unlikely that it only made sense to retire the car“. Without the ability to help Hamilton prioritize, however Toto Wolff, was to make the engine run a few kilometers less. “There was no more downforce and we pulled it back – concluded the Austrian manager – the car was warming up, it was damaged and it was no longer fast. We have decided to preserve the power unit“.
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