Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas lamented the “doltish oversight” that prompted him turning behind the security car amid the Chinese Grand Prix. The Finn lost control warming up his tires as the field arranged for a restart and dropped from fifth to twelfth. Bottas recouped to complete 6th as team-mate Lewis Hamilton won the race.
“I was trying to generate as much tyre temperature as I could but made a mistake and spun and lost many places,” said the 27-year-old.
“Through a stupid mistake of mine, we lost too many points.”
Bottas, who was elevated to Mercedes this year from Williams after title holder Nico Rosberg resigned, is in his first season in a top team.
He was marked by Mercedes on a one-year contract and is under enormous weight to perform in light of the fact that the agreements of numerous title holders Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are up for restoration toward the finish of this season with Ferrari and McLaren separately.
Bottas said he was “truly glad” it was just a week and not the typical two until the following race, in Bahrain.
Team boss Toto Wolff, who was included in Bottas’ administration team for a long time before expelling himself in the wake of marking him to stay away from an irreconcilable circumstance, stated: “Valtteri threw it away behind the safety car. It was very slippery.
“It is race two, there are are 18 to go. He needs to put it behind him and forget about it. He has the character to recover from such a situation.”
