F1 Throwback: When Williams F1 Celebrated Crash of Valtteri Bottas with Kimi Raikkonen in Mexico 2015

Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, have had a good rivalry through the recent years. Not just rivalry, both have come together quite a few times even when Bottas was driving for Williams. One such bizarre collision between the two was at the 2015 Mexico Grand Prix.

The 2015 Mexican Grand Prix was the inaugural race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Lewis Hamilton had already secured the driver’s championship following Rosberg’s costly error at the preceding week’s US Grand Prix. However, Rosberg was fired up for this weekend. He took pole after being fastest for two of the three practice sessions.

Sometime during the race, Valtteri Bottas attempted a divebomb on Kimi Raikkonen, but the older Finn slammed the door too quickly. The end result was Raikkonen’s Ferrari getting tagged and hitting the barriers, while Bottas lived to tell the tale on the podium with 3rd place.

With regard to the reaction, Williams team boss, Claire Williams simply said, “Good… f*** off”. Naturally, Ferrari’s reaction would have been the polar opposite of Williams’.

Meanwhile, Vettel had problems of his own as he spun twice at Turn 7. Unfortunately, the second one was his last as he crashed into the barriers.

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene took the diplomatic approach, saying: “It’s an accident, it’s part of the show. I don’t want to blame anybody.” He went on to describe the weekend as “a good lesson” for the team, taking positive things from the race, such as the good race pace shown by both cars.

Meanwhile, at the front, Rosberg stormed to victory, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Bottas 3rd and the Red Bull duo in 4th and 5th. Ferrari’s double retirement already capped off a nightmare weekend, especially for Raikkonen as he picked up multiple penalties for unscheduled engine and gearbox changes.