Valtteri Bottas could have scored points in the previous stage in Saudi Arabia, but he was forced to stop there due to overheating of the car. But in Melbourne he finished in the top ten again and praised the team’s work.
Valtteri took 8th place, but the result could have been better had it not been for the safety car exit, which happened at an unlucky moment for him, and not for Lance Stroll’s actions, for which the Canadian was given a 5-second penalty.
Bottas actively pushed for the Canadian, but when he tried to attack, he started wagging his tail in a straight line and tried not to miss the opponent, although the rules only allow the defending rider to change direction once. In another episode, which took place on lap 38, Stroll pushed Bottas’ car quite roughly off the track at Turn 3, but the stewards did not see this as a violation.
“Overall, I think the race went well and we had good tactics,” Valtteri said after the finish. “Although we were a bit unlucky with the safety car because we had a pit stop just before he left, everything else went well.
The car was fast, which allowed me to fight with rivals, and I managed to overtake some. Problems were only in qualifying. On one quick lap it was not possible to show the desired result. I don’t know, maybe it’s because the settings were designed too clearly for the race. If we had started from higher positions, the result could have been higher, but this will be a lesson for us for the future.
But on Sunday we showed good speed, from the very start to the finish there was a very sharp battle on the track. Most importantly, of course, we earned points – thanks to the good work of the whole team. I’m happy with the decisions that were made and how we ran the race.
As for the incidents with Stroll, as he wobbled on the track, it was hard to choose which side to overtake him on, and I believe the situation was about to happen. And when he caught up with me, it was obvious he was just pushing me off the track. I don’t think these are acceptable fighting methods.
But in the end I still managed to get to the front, although of course I lost some time. Without this episode I don’t rule out that I would have overtaken Esteban Ocon, but four points is also a nice result.”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
