© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Valtteri Bottas says Lewis Hamilton “delivered” at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and reveals what made him “imagine Toto banging his table”.
Valtteri Bottas had a solid Brazilian Grand Prix, and finished the race in P3. However, he did have a bit of trouble at the start when Max Verstappen passed him.
The Finn was asked if he thought the start decided how the rest of the race would go for him.
“I think so, yeah,” Bottas told Sky Sports F1.
“The start was not a disaster, but Max had a good start, and obviously we’ll have a look at what happened.
“Then Max was already kind of ahead into Turn 1 and we both braked really late, there was nowhere to go for me.
“And then again, defending Checo into Turn 4, going wide. For me, the first lap was a bit of a nightmare – I could imagine Toto banging his table for sure.
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“I kept pushing and I’m glad that Lewis was in his own league today. Once he got by me, it was all up to him and he delivered, so that meant we got more points than Red Bull.”
Bottas says this performance by Mercedes will give the team confidence for the last three races of the season.
“I think for the next tracks, it gives confidence for sure. It’s still a tough battle, but I think the pace today, especially always at the end of the stints, was better than we expected, so that is positive.”
When Bottas was called in by Mercedes for his second pit stop, he told his team he believed they “threw away an easy 1-2”. After the race he further explained.
“My feeling is one stop should have been faster because we went so long in the first stint, and the second tyre was the hard tyre.
“We’ll have a look but that’s my feeling, I think we should have been 1-2,” concluded the Finn.
