“I feel really gutted for him”: Departing Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas laments at the fact that he couldn’t help his teammate Lewis Hamilton win the World Championship

Valtteri Bottas said that he is disappointed at his inability to Lewis Hamilton win the 2021 World Championship. 

Bottas had a very forgettable Abu Dhabi GP last Sunday. The Finn started and finished the race on 6th position and did not play any part in influencing the title showdown between teammate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Mercedes ended up winning their 8th consecutive Constructor’s Championship but Bottas admitted that the entire team was left disappointed. They wanted to win both titles, but they had one taken away from them after Verstappen passed Hamilton on the last lap of the race.

Bottas during the post-race debrief #AbuDhabiGP #WTF1 pic.twitter.com/Zul9TemNDu

— WTF1 (@wtf1official) December 12, 2021

The 32 year old said that he wasn’t able to talk to anyone from his team after the race. The Mercedes staff were busy preparing for their protests, so he was left alone.

“I haven’t seen anyone yet, but I can feel it. We wanted to get both titles.” said Bottas.

“Getting the Constructors’  again is huge. But at the same time, it hurts that Lewis didn’t get the Drivers’ because, even for me. I feel like I lost the championship because he lost it!” he added.

Also read: Williams driver Nicholas Latifi apologizes for influencing a controversial end to the Abu Dhabi GP that saw Max Verstappen crowned as World Champion

Hamilton deserved the win, says Valtteri Bottas

Bottas felt that his teammate was just victim of bad luck. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashing into the barriers brought the safety car out which was the only reason Verstappen was able to win the Title.

“I’m sure Race Control made the decisions for safety. If there’s a car sideways next to a barrier, there were men on the track… normally you need a Safety Car, so it was just unlucky.” Bottas added.

“I really feel gutted for him, because I feel like he deserved it today. He had a great start, great race. Then things change like this.”

“But you know, that’s the sport, that’s how it goes. Sometimes it goes against you, or sometimes it goes for you, but today was not our day.”

The Abu Dhabi GP was Bottas’ 101st and final race for the Silver Arrows. He will join Alfa Romeo from 2022, where he replaces the retiring F1 legend, Kimi Raikkonen.

Also read: Fernando Alonso thinks Max Verstappen got fair reward for all bad luck he faced across 2021