© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
After Mercedes’ pit stop error severely hindered Valtteri Bottas’ race, the Finn says the team will have to “review everything”.
Valtteri Bottas had a pretty tough time at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Not only did Mercedes’ pit stop mistake cost him valuable time, but he also disagrees with the strategy the team chose for him.
“It was good, but I am disappointed,” Bottas said after taking third place in the race.
“It’s disappointing for sure. The team got good points, which is a good thing, but from my side the strategy was too much on the defensive side instead of attacking.
“I’m quite surprised and it is not quite normal. I feel we were more passive than aggressive with the strategy in the end.
“I wanted to stay out longer in the middle stint on fresher tyres, but it wouldn’t have made much difference in the end.
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“I also had a slow pit-stop, which took away any opportunities, and in the end P3 was the maximum. But the pace was quite good at times.
“We will review everything. We managed to have two cars with different tyre choices so we could play with the strategy, but from my side I think there should have been more to get today.”
Ultimately, considering how dominant Red Bull looked in pre-season testing, Bottas still sees the end result as a positive for the team.
“If you had told us after winter testing we would have got more points than Red Bull today we would have taken it. There are positives to take and we move on.
“It’s still very early days in the championship.”
