Bojan Vrbnjak
Valtteri Bottas was a big loser in the opening phase of the race for the Hungarian GP. The Finns got in the grip in the first corner Max Verstappen in Lewis Hamilton, and a little later there was a contact between the two Mercedes racers, and Bottas made further contact, this time with Charles Leclerc, damaged the front wings. For the future, he strongly predicts that he will start the business more aggressively.
"Lewis was on the outside and there was enough room for both of them,”Reads Bottas' reconstruction of the difficult situation in the first round. The Finn was already under pressure in the first corner, he made a mistake when braking and because of that he got into a tight position in the second corner. Hamilton exerted pressure and placed himself on the outside of the left turn. Bottas said after the race that he had a damaged tire due to a braking error and therefore understeer in all left corners - as well as during the fight against a teammate.
The Finn says: “Maybe I left him too much room because he was able to turn into the third corner at a higher speed.”With this, Hamilton overtook his teammate in the aforementioned third corner on the inside. “We were close together and Lewis left me no room. Because of this, I had to reduce the gas in the third turn,”Complains Bottas. In the so-called Onboard footage, we can hear that he had to really cut the throttle in the third corner to prevent a collision with Hamilton.
From a team leadership perspective Mercedes, Bottas reacted correctly in the first corner and defended himself honestly against the current champion. But if I pushed Hamilton more outward in the second corner, then him Toto wolff I wouldn't count that for good. “No. We debated this in the team. Although the Commissioners have described the case of Verstappn and Leclerc in Austria as undisputed, we believe that this is not correct within the Mercedes team,”So Wolff.
Bottas took internal guidance Mercedesa to the knowledge and understand that the team wants to bring the maximum number of points to the goal. “Still, racing can be good even if you don’t push another racer off the track. If you’re kind and honest, yet sharp, it’s also good. This also goes with respect,”So Bottas, who thinks he was Hamilton maneuver in the third turn in any case at the limit. And the Finn wants to learn from this: “Next time we have a situation like the one in the second corner of Hungaroring, I may react differently. Nevertheless, there must be respect and we must know our borders,”Bottas says at the hut.
