Valtteri Bottas Makes Blunt Public Confession After Sebastian Vettel-esque Rookie Mistake at ROC

The much-anticipated Race of Champions concluded with Mattias Ekstrom’s winning blow against Mick Schumacher. The Formula 1 driver couldn’t help but lose out to DTM champion Ekstrom after going down on two heats to nil at the Grand Final of 2023 ROC at Pite Havsbad, Sweden. Despite the young German’s valiant try to keep the F1 flag flying high, it was Valtteri Bottas and his novice mistake that made all the headlines. Somewhat similar to Sebastian Vettel, the former Mercedes man’s rookie mistake cost him the all-important race, for which he, later on, made a blunt confession.

Valtteri Bottas participated in the annual Race of Champions competition in Sweden this time. The expectations were high regarding the high-profile Formula 1 driver. However, the expectations were too much as the Finn fell short of them due to his F1 habits. Bottas won the race against Tom Kristensen, but in the end, he had to give up the win for the jump start.

Bottas, later on, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the competition as he bowed out. The F1 driver wrote, “That’s it for the @RaceOfChampions 2023. I had a blast – Made new friends, shared good stories, good laughs, and had fun on track (even if both days were short for me). Congrats to winners and see you again in 2024.”

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The 2023 ROC boasted some of the greatest names in the field of motorsport. They included Sebastian Vettel, Mika Hakkinen, Sebastien Loeb, Jamie Chadwick, Mick Schumacher, David Coulthard, Felipe Drugovich, and many more.

What did Sebastian Vettel do that synced with Valtteri Bottas’s mistake?

Even though Sebastian Vettel didn’t jump-start the race, he, however, lost control of the car in lap two. As a result, the veteran German came over to Mick Schumacher’s track. As he needed to move to his track, in doing so, the former Red Bull champion lost significant time.

As Vettel returned to his track, it was way too late for him to get back and win the race against his young compatriot. In the end, Schumacher Jr. ran away with the win. Two amateurish mistakes from two top F1 legends bow out of the competition.

As for Bottas, who’s the true love of Lewis Hamilton, he jump-started the race against Kristensen. According to the rule in ROC, a driver is given a five seconds time penalty in case of a jump start.

WATCH THIS STORY: Vettel & Mick’s team got knocked out by Jimmie Johnson & Colton Herta

Bottas, in the end, recovered well to finish the race three seconds ahead of the Danish driver. However, his time penalty threw him out of the competition by two seconds.