“It’s quite a theory”– Valtteri Bottas laughs on George Russell’s blame game after the crash in Imola; claims it was normal defending.
Valtteri Bottas and George Russell were involved in an ugly crash. The incident immediately caused a red flag, and the race was stopped for a while.
Though FIA has refused to take further action on both drivers, as no clear evidence finds anyone guilty, the two drivers have been taking shots at each other.
Russell, after the race, said that it was Bottas’ fault, and he has an agenda against him by saying that if it were some other driver, it wouldn’t have happened. Bottas, in response, laughed at this accusation.
When Russell’s comments were put to Bottas, the Finn briefly looked confused and joked: “Sorry, I lost my aluminium foil hat somewhere. It’s quite a theory.”
“No, I’m always going to defend. To any driver, I’m not keen to lose any positions, and that was normal defending; it could have been a lot more aggressive.”
“I don’t agree with that at all. I was doing my thing; no matter who I would have been defending against, it would have been exactly the same.”
“He knew exactly that it was going to be damp there because we’ve gone through lap after lap, and I knew as well, and it’s just not the place to go in those conditions on slicks.”
“But he still went there, and it was his choice to go there, and I was doing my job, trying to defend, and I’m not going to move away and give him the dry patch of the track.”
No sudden moves were made.
Bottas then refused that he unfairly pushed him on the grass and claimed that he could have been more aggressive and prevented him from being not on the drier patch of the track.
“No, I don’t see it that way. I didn’t make any sudden moves,” he said. “I think it’s quite clear from his onboard as well, and [he was] always left the space, so no from my side it was clean, and of course I’m defending, I’m not going to make any room for him.
“But also when I race, I have respect. I see it differently.”
