Valtteri Bottas Gets Tangled in Late Drama as FIA Delivers Verdict on Crimes Against Lance Stroll

Late drama at the Mexican GP? That seems to have been the pattern this weekend. It all started during qualifying in Mexico City. in Q1, Fernando Alonso had a spin, causing Yellow Flags to come out. The FIA felt Lewis Hamilton didn’t slow down enough and he became the first driver in the FIA’s bad books. In Q2, Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Alonso blocked the pit exit, causing queues in the pit lane. They added to the FIA’s list of investigations. Along with delta-time infringements by Lando Norris and Zhou Guanyu, the FIA had its hands full after qualifying. The list didn’t stop there, though, because Valtteri Bottas added himself to it.

After an hour or so of deliberation on Saturday, the FIA let almost everyone go scot-free. But after its investigation on Bottas following Sunday’s race, the Alfa Romeo driver didn’t have the same fate.

Valtteri Bottas paid for his Mexican GP crimes

Throughout the weekend, Alfa Romeo looked good at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Bottas looked especially pacey throughout the weekend, securing a P4 in FP2 on Friday. He followed that up with a P9 in qualifying (that he was disappointed with), with his teammate Zhou in P10. With that P9, he maintained his record of reaching Q3 in every one of his Mexican GP outings.

After a strong Saturday, Bottas told the media, “I think coming into this weekend, I was always expecting more than from Austin. We take this result because it allows us to fight for some good points. I think this track is just the kind of slow-speed nature, it still fits our car a bit better.” His comment about fighting for good points? Famous last words. On Sunday, Alfa Romeo just couldn’t emulate its pace from Friday and Saturday, and both drivers were running outside the top 10 for most of the race.

In the end, the Alfa Romeo pair finished P14 and P15—Bottas ahead of Zhou, second-last and last. But Sunday went from bad to worse for the Finn. In the closing stages of the race, Lance Stroll tried passing Bottas in the stadium section. He dove up the inside but the 10-time race winner made contact with him, sending the Canadian into a spin. Stroll retired immediately after and the stewards noted the incident. After a meeting with them, as per a tweet by PlanetF1, “Valtteri Bottas receives a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Lance Stroll, dropping him behind Alfa Romeo team-mate Zhou Guanyu to last in the Mexican GP order.”

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Even without the penalty, Bottas wasn’t too happy with how the Mexican GP played out.

Bottas rued his Mexico outing

With how confident Alfa Romeo and Bottas were coming into Sunday, their result would’ve been nothing short of disappointing. From the prospect of fighting for points, the Finn driver had to settle for last place. When asked about the outing in a post-race interview, Bottas said, “It was a tough one today. Definitely unlucky as well because the first Safety Car came one lap after we stopped, so that meant we lost lots of ground. Eventually, I ended up crashing with Lance [Stroll] which was the last nail in the coffin not to get points today.”

He further elaborated on what went wrong with the Stroll incident, “Turn 13 was fine. He was obviously pushing me a little wide. But then going into Turn 14, there was just no space for two cars and I felt like I just couldn’t disappear. By the time I hit the breaks, it was too late.” 

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Do you think Valtteri Bottas deserved a penalty for his collision with Lance Stroll?