Valtteri Bottas Responds to Critics of Mercedes F1 Radio Outburst

Valtteri Bottas has endured a terrible start to his 2021 F1 campaign with Mercedes, having secured a measly 59 points out of the seven initial race weekends.

What’s more, there have been frequent signs that the Finn’s relationship with the Brackley outfit has hit a rough patch; one of them being the recently concluded French Grand Prix, where Bottas, on the radio, accused his team of not listening to his opinion.

This consequently led to claims that Bottas had lost his love for the team, with whom he had been traveling since 2017.

However, the Mercedes driver dismissed such speculations and reckoned that he was not at a tea party to not worry about the strategical errors.

What did Valtteri Bottas say?

As reported by Autosport, the Finn opined that his reactions during the French GP race were because of the high emotions.

“I’m glad if he liked it, but I wasn’t that happy obviously in that situation,” he said. “But that’s racing, that’s emotions. It’s so hard to describe the feeling when you’re in the car. We’re not at a tea party, we’re in an elite top sport.

“I want to do well, I want the team to do well. There are emotions, even for a Finn.”

Bottas’ last podium came in Spain earlier this season when he crossed the finishing line in P3; since then, it has been rather quiet for the Mercedes driver.

Moreover, he had every chance to return to the podium at Le Castellet last weekend. However, his hopes were shattered by Red Bull’s much smarter strategical decisions, which witnessed Bottas fall back from P2 to P4 in a handful of laps.

Can Bottas find his touch in Austria?

With the pressure mounting on Bottas, he will be desperate to end his podium drought over the upcoming double weekend in Austria. However, it might not be that easy for the 31-year-old.

Why, you might ask? Well, both race weekends in Austria could take place under wet weather conditions. And the entire F1 fandom is aware of the fact that Bottas is merely a master when it comes to such tricky conditions. Moreover, who could ever forget his horrendous spin-induced 2020 Turkish GP race?

Hence, with immense pressure already in the bag, the weather forecast will only fuel more worry in the Finn. But can he prove everyone wrong and put up a stellar show at the Red Bull Ring over the next couple of weekends? Well, we’ll know soon enough.

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