© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Valtteri Bottas won the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Race even though his soft tyres were degrading rapidly, while Max Verstappen followed him on more durable medium tyres.
Valtteri Bottas’ amazing victory came at the right time, just as Mercedes had to contend with a dubious penalty that jeopardized Lewis Hamilton’s title hopes.
Nevertheless, Bottas managed to win the race on soft tyres, even though he was closely followed by Max Verstappen, who was on more durable medium tyres.
The Finn explains how he managed to keep the Dutch driver behind.
“He was sometimes just about within a second and I knew that it’s only going to get more tricky towards the end because the soft tyre degrades more,” Bottas said.
“But, yeah, I think we had a good pace and the following is not easy here, so he couldn’t ever have an opportunity to overtake.
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A big part of Valtteri’s success came down to great tyre management.
“I was really fully focusing on trying to do the fastest stint I can, and that means management with the soft tyre.
“So especially in the beginning, I was obviously trying to create a gap, but not to kill the tyres immediately.
“And that middle part of that race really, just tried to optimise the pace and that includes quite a bit of management with the soft tyre, especially in certain parts of the track.
“And towards the end, yeah, I was trying to squeeze out every single bit I had left of the tyres,” concluded the Finn.
