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Disappointed Bottas accuses Mercedes of 'sleeping' after losing victory

Published on 09 Aug 2020 18:24
11
By: Coilin Higgins

A disappointed Valtteri Bottas has said he believes his team were 'sleeping' this afternoon after the Finn lost out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen despite starting on pole position.

Bottas led away from the start from teammate Hamilton, as Verstappen, on the harder tyre, jumped Racing Point's Nico Hulkenberg for third.

Both Mercedes struggled only a handful of laps into the race as the medium compound tyres on both cars began to blister. An early stop for both cars did not help matters as the hard compound tyres again started to blister ten laps after their pitstops.

Bottas briefly regained the lead from Verstappen when the Red Bull pitted, but he was no match for the Dutch driver on fresh tyres, and Verstappen would remain unchallenged to take Red Bull's first victory at Silverstone since 2012.

Bottas would then drop to third after teammate Lewis Hamilton went long into his second stint, allowing him a late pit to hard tyres that allowed him to pass both Charles Leclerc and Bottas to take the runner-up spot.

Speaking to Martin Brundle after the race, a dejected Bottas was convinced a win was there for himself and the team and said that his team was 'sleeping' during the race to allow Verstappen to take the victory.

"Obviously starting from pole and finishing third is not ideal," Bottas said.

"As a team, we were sleeping at some point. I don't know where Max got ahead of us and my strategy was quite far from ideal. Lots to learn from today I think.

"There was a chance to keep up with Max, but as soon as I pushed towards the end, my tyres just fell apart. Lots of blistering in the tyres for us and it seems that Red Bull had an edge over us."

denis1304

Posts: 284

He really thinks he can be F1 World champion while Hamilton is in other Mercedes car and he will get teams support along the way?

2
Aug 9 2020 - 20:19

F1 News Max Verstappen Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton Red Bull Racing Mercedes

Replies (11)

denis1304

Posts: 284
He really thinks he can be F1 World champion while Hamilton is in other Mercedes car and he will get teams support along the way?
- + 2
- Aug 9 2020 - 20:19
- Pistonhead
  
  Posts: 556
  He's unlikely to endear himself with comments like these ! Feel for him though, second race running where his luck not been good and arguably second race running where strategy hasn't been optimal - still, the damage was limited and onto Spain !
  + 0
  
  Aug 9 2020 - 22:39
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
The way those Merc cars manhandled this hard compound baffles me. As a low rake car with DAS, they should have plenty of options to regulate them, but the tyres just melted off 'um both.
- + 0
- Aug 9 2020 - 20:44
- ajpennypacker
  
  Posts: 2,475
  It was surprising but not totally. We've seen Mercedes already struggle with high temperatures but not this badly. Hopefully Spain also throws a few surprises. It will be very hot there.
  
  I hope Pérez gets the RP to fulfill its potential. So far it's been a lto of promise but no real outstanding results. Good results, but not better than other years
  + 0
  
  Aug 9 2020 - 21:50
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  true, but it's generally been more about the PU than the tyres. This time, they burned through rubber like I burn through our tea storage at home!
  
  Yeah, he'd better come back soon.
  + 0
  
  Aug 9 2020 - 21:58
- RogerF1
  
  Posts: 501
  I’m thinking maybe the superior Merc hp pushes them to use more downforce to aid cornering grip knowing they don’t have to compromise on downforce for that straight line speed advantage but rely on the extra grunt of the Merc engine = more pain on the tyres?
  + 1
  
  Aug 10 2020 - 00:46
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  it could be, but RB actually ran with a higher DF setup AFAIK, so I'm unsure. A lot depends on how the PU deliver the power aswell of course, but I've always interpreted the Merc PUs as pretty tyre friendly
  + 0
  
  Aug 10 2020 - 09:15
- greatbigdong
  
  Posts: 53
  It wasn't just the rears that got destroyed - the fronts were also looking very average. But I personally wonder if they have the car setup for too much front grip after what happened last week which then made the rears slide around this week.
  
  The other teams with the same PU did not have the same issue - so its something specific to the Merc and my only thoughts go to a loose rear end as sliding creates that heat build up.
  + 0
  
  Aug 11 2020 - 08:59
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Nah, if it was an aggressive front, those'd be the ones to burn the most. The rears looked pretty horrible. Hard to say 'bout the rest, but I doubt the PU is at fault.
  + 0
  
  Aug 11 2020 - 12:44
f1ski

Posts: 726
What bottas should be more pissed about is that they pitted boats first then could analyze the rubber situation and allow them to make the call to allow hamilton to stay out longer. He got fucked because Lewis and MB don't support diversity amongst their own drivers on the podium
- + 0
- Aug 10 2020 - 04:14
Snooky

Posts: 121
It’s clear they’ve been setting up too much for quali and not the race, they could easily trim some of the pace out of the car for race set up and still be comfortably battling for pole but for some reason they haven’t been doing that
- + 0
- Aug 10 2020 - 07:58