Valtteri Bottas refused to speak on the matter of crash with Williams Formula 1 driver George Russell at Imola two weeks ago.
The Finn insisted that the matter was “done and dusted” and it was “time to move on”.
Midway through Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Russell and Bottas engaged in a battle for ninth place. They went on to collide causing a huge crash on the track triggering red flag.
Both drivers on the radio were stunned with what had happened and blamed each other. Russell went straight to the Bottas in gravel to confront him.
He also showed his discontent with the Finn on public platforms issuing fiery statement on the media. However, Russell realized the emotional response as inappropriate and later issued an apology to Bottas.
Russel also plans to call Bottas to straight his relationship with Bottas over the incident. Earlier, he had accused Mercedes’ driver of behaving with bias against him.
The British driver is a star of Mercedes’ junior programme and had a bright cahcnes of finding himself a full time seat at main team.
Russell: Emotional behavior was a “very poor judgement”
Bottas was happy that Stewards had not imposed any penalty on either of them. He was more than happy to put the incident in the past. He also revealed that he had not spoken to the Russel since their appearance in-front of stewards.
“I heard about his post and apology, and I read it,” Bottas said.
“But yeah, to be honest, we haven’t spoken after the race, after the stewards.
“I did have a missed call on the Monday morning, but I was still sleeping.
“We haven’t spoken, but I’m sure it’s the same for George, it’s done and dusted.
“It’s history, and there was no decision by the stewards. George apologised, and [it’s] time to move on.”
Russell acknowledged that his behavior was inappropriate and it was a “very poor judgement call”. He also issued an apology on the social media.
The British young driver spoke with Mercedes boss. Wolff disapproved of what had happened between the drivers and spoke extensively with Russel.
Bottas also spoke with Toto on the matter and he was eager to keep his head down on the upcoming races.
“We had a chat after, just to go through the situation which is normal,” Bottas said.
“But apart from that, we agreed [to] take the positives and learn from the negatives and move on. Kind of one to forget really.
“One positive for sure is it was only race two of the season, and there are 21 to go.”
