“Kept Max Verstappen’s Red Bull behind” – Mika Hakkinen considers the Turkish GP victory to be the best of Valtteri Bottas’s career.
Valtteri Bottas has long lived under the shadows of his champion Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. But in Istanbul, none of that was the case as the Finn drove brilliantly to take home his 10th victory in Formula 1.
The win certainly impressed compatriot and former champion Mika Hakkinen, who termed it the best win of Bottas’ career. He was also glad Bottas contributed strongly to Mercedes’ fight with Red Bull on a day when Lewis Hamilton only managed P5.
“That was a really brilliant performance from Valtteri Bottas on Sunday in Turkey.
“A very strong victory, his 10th in Formula 1, and an important result because he scored the maximum possible points for Mercedes and kept Max Verstappen’s Red Bull behind.
“With team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing 5th, it was critical that Valtteri prevented Max from scoring the win, so his domination of the race was great to see.
“Valtteri showed great skill in managing the intermediate tyres which were used throughout the race due to the damp conditions. Particularly at the start of the race and then again after his pit stop.
“It is so easy to destroy the grip levels on a set of intermediates by pushing too hard straight from the pits, which is what happened to both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc later in the race.
“Valtteri just focused on beating Max off the start-line, protecting his tyres until they were ready to be pushed, and drove a perfect race.
“There is no doubt that this was one of his best victories in Formula One, so I am not surprised at how happy he and Mercedes were after the race.
“On a day when Lewis Hamilton had to take a 10 place grid penalty as the result of an engine change, Valtteri did everything that his team could hope for.”
