Valtteri Bottas Sees the Lighter Side of His Angry Outburst against Mercedes F1

The French GP was a memorable one for Valtteri Bottas, dreadfully. The ‘F1 Animated’ added to their series recently, featuring Bottas’ vexed team radio at Paul Ricard. Reminded of the regretful day, Bottas finds the animated perspective of his rant hilarious as opposed to the anger in France.

Recently, Bottas reposted the video on his IG Stories. Laughing at the animation, the Finn encouraged his followers to have a look at the animation as well.

The infamous Mercedes one-stop strategy at the two-stop race cost both drivers heavily. Hamilton’s championship rival took the win, while Bottas lost out on the podium.

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Valtteri Bottas’ furious team radio

Fans felt for Bottas after listening to his team radio. The Mercedes driver had warned his team about the strategy; both Red Bulls pitted for the second time, gaining an advantage over the Silver Arrows. Bottas, who was running in second, eventually lost his place to the faster Red Bulls. As a result, Bottas let his frustration known: “Why the f*ck does no one listen to me when I say it’s going to be a two-stopper?” 

Bottas held on to his anger well after the race. He commented, “If I did a two-stop, for sure I would have been on the podium and fighting for the win of the race. That’s for sure.”

Valtteri didn’t believe he was too harsh to his team on the radio. They didn’t heed to his predictions, and it had cost them the race. “I was making very clear what I was thinking. I was suggesting two stops, earlier in the race, but the team decided it was going to be one-stop. So we went for a one stop.”

Mercedes’ argument

On the contrary, Mercedes argued they had no choice but to pit Bottas earlier. Red Bull boxed Verstappen after Bottas’ stop on Lap 17; Verstappen’s strong undercut helped him take the lead from Hamilton. This track position later helped the team go ahead with the winning two-stop strategy.

Team Principal Toto Wolff explained the situation, “We knew that we were going to trigger the stops too early, but [we had] no choice.” 

The win at Paul Ricard helped Verstappen extend his championship lead. Mercedes strategist was heard apologizing to Hamilton on the radio. He said, “This one’s on us. Thank you for doing everything you could to recover that race.”

Going into the next triple-header, which resumes the season, surely Bottas anticipates a lucky break with the team.

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