“I was surprised”– Valtteri Bottas shocked with Mercedes blaming him for failed pitstop
“I was surprised”– Valtteri Bottas is shocked by Mercedes placing blame on him for the failed pitstop in Monaco, which led to a DNF.
Valtteri Bottas had a sure shot at the podium in Monaco but was denied one, as his disastrous pitstop in the middle of the race forced him to discontinue his participation.
The screw stuck in the tyre was then retrieved 43 hours after the debacle. Mercedes later revealed that a slight angle caused by Bottas in the pitstop was the factor behind it, but the Finn was shocked knowing this argument.
“Yes, I was surprised. I saw the video, and for me it was pretty spot on, where I stopped, so I was quite surprised,” he said. Bottas then revealed that the data available to him showed him inside a tolerable level of deviance.
“We analysed, everything in detail and we know that we probably could have done a better job as a team, and with the pitstop of course, you know, it was very normal, debrief from my side,” he explained.
“Of course I wanted to see all the reports about where I stopped. I think I was like two or three centimetres off the central line. And, if you get that accuracy normally, it’s pretty good. You know, you can easily swing by 10-15 centimetres so I thought it was pretty spot on.”
Warned of poor pitstops
Bottas instead threw in a reversal at Mercedes and claimed that he has been warning the management about the poor pitstops being made by the team way before the Monaco race.
“It was one of my concerns already a few weeks ago that I raised with the team,” he said. “So you know it didn’t come from somewhere out of the blue; we knew that we are not perfect in pitstops as we’ve seen.
“And also other areas like tyre warm up in qualifying. I knew coming to Monaco that it is going to be an issue and it was one of the things that I highlighted much before the weekend.”
About the author
-
Anirban Aly Mandal •
From Supercars to Custom Superbike and Mini EV: Lewis Hamilton’s $7.2 Million Garage Unveiled
-
Somin Bhattacharjee •
Agent Fernando Alonso Celebrates Gabriel Bortoleto’s Success Amidst Race to F2 Glory
-
Pranay Bhagi •
George Russell Could Be Unjustly Replaced by Max Verstappen as Toto Wolff Eyes Red Bull Star for 2026
-
Tanish Chachra •
“He carried the team”- Mark Webber shower praises on Daniel Ricciardo for 2020 performances
-
Utkarsh Bhatla •
Wolff admits Mercedes is ‘losing five tenths to Ferrari on the straights’, takes dig at Red Bull
-
Vidit Dhawan •
Pressure Mounts on Daniel Ricciardo to Hold Onto F1 Seat as Red Bull Wunderkind Threat Looms Large