“I can laugh about it now”– Valtteri Bottas finds funny side to Imola crash with George Russell

 “I can laugh about it now”– Valtteri Bottas talks about the funny side of the Imola crash which he had with Williams’ George Russell.

Valtteri Bottas had a horrific crash with George Russell in Imola this year, with both cars hitting at least 280 Kms on the straight, though both drivers accused each other of rash driving.

But it was fortunate that none had a serious injury; now a few months after the accident, Bottas talks about the funny side of the accident, even though for him it was a serious crash,

“It wasn’t fun. You know, I can laugh about it now but luckily nothing [serious] happened,” said Bottas during an interview with Hypebeast.

“At those kinds of speeds and on that track where there’s not really that much of a run-off area when you become a passenger, you’re just waiting for the impact.

“You don’t know where you will end up. You can’t control the car, and what you’re going to hit next or which way to go, so it’s not fun. But luckily, the final hit into the barrier was straight on, and it was quite a big barrier, so it definitely took some of the energy away.

“It could have been worse, but it’s not great. When you are caught in that situation, you basically say “oh sh*t” and wait for the impact.”

The rough patch was no good.

After the race in Imola, Bottas saw a tough series of races, where he either performed poorly, bad fate or was a victim of blunders by Mercedes, and he admits it wasn’t a good phase in his career.

“It’s not fun. Sometimes I don’t know if I should cry or laugh because it almost feels like there’s been an incredible amount of bad luck happening.”

“But what can you do? Sometimes there will be things you can’t affect, so you just need to try and move on. What hurts the most is if I make a mistake myself and if I have a bad weekend because I haven’t performed at the level I should be performing at.”

“That’s more painful and I’m always trying to learn from each situation. It’s not been the best season with mixed results and lacking pace, but here we are and there’s still a long year ahead.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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