Former F1 Champion Blames Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes’ Strategy Blunder in France

Valtteri Bottas didn’t have the weekend he wanted to at the recent French Grand Prix. He lost a podium finish and had to settle for fourth place. The Finn was understandably furious with Mercedes for not listening to him about having a two-stop strategy, which could have possibly given the Brackley-based outfit a better result.

However, former F1 driver Damon Hill doesn’t agree with Bottas. Instead, he feels that the Finn should have taken more responsibility, and been more assertive; Damon believes Valtteri should have come into the pits even if the team didn’t agree with him on the strategy.

Hill doesn’t have any sympathy for Valtteri Bottas after strategy fail

On an episode of the podcast, F1 Nation with TC, Pinks & Damon, Hill said, “Why didn’t he just come in anyway? The point is, it’s about responsibility. If Valtteri wanted to just say, ‘I’m coming in, get the tyres’, he has to take the responsibility for it not working.

“And the thing about decisions like that is it’s who’s going to take the can when it goes wrong,” he concluded.

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What did the Finn say on the team radio?

Mercedes’ number #77 driver was in third place and looked like he was set to feature on the podium at Paul Ricard. However, he was soon overtaken by Sergio Perez and fell down to fourth. Bottas was furious with his Mercedes colleagues over the pitstop strategy, and he expressed his anger over the team radio.

He said, “Why the f*ck you didn’t listen to me when I told you it was gonna be a two-stopper? F*cking hell!”

A frustrated Bottas had to settle for fourth place and earned twelve points for his team that weekend. Fortunately, he has good things to look forward to, as the next two races will take place in Austria – where he won a race last season.

Hence, Bottas is looking forward to the race this weekend, as a way of redeeming himself from the heartbreaking French GP.

Can Valtteri bounce back at the Red Bull Ring and secure a podium finish for the Silver Arrows? We will just have to wait for the weekend to find out.

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